R1?  A  T    1?"' 


^^^  OF  F/iMc^ 


THE   REAL  KEY  TO 
CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 


THE   REAL   KEY  TO 
CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

A  SURPRISING  DISCOVERY. 


BY 


RICHARD  L.  SWAIN,  Ph.D. 


-^f^^i  Of  P,''i'.-p>^ 


JAN 


New  York 


Chicago 


Toronto 


Fleming   H.   Revell  Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  191 7,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    100    Princes    Street 


FOREWORD 

CHRISTIAN  Science  is  not  generally  un- 
derstood because  it  is  not  fully  explained. 
The  leaders  of  this  cult  prefer  that  it 
should  remain  a  beautiful  mystery  to  the  pub- 
lic, and  to  the  majority  of  their  members  as 
well.  They  are  right,  probably,  in  thinking  that 
a  full  understanding  of  it  would  drive  many 
away.  For  this  reason,  not  more  than  ten  to 
twenty  per  cent  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  followers  have 
ever  been  given  a  worthy  idea  of  her  teachings; 
moreover,  the  general  public  has  been  allowed 
to  entertain  the  grossest  misconceptions  of  this 
religion. 

In  harmony  with  the  method  of  partial  con- 
cealment, preaching  is  not  allowed  in  Christian 
Science  services,  and  all  other  sufficient  means 
of  instruction  are  excluded.  Consequently,  one 
might  attend  a  Christian  Science  church  for  a 
lifetime  without  learning  its  real  beliefs.  Through 
special  instruction  a  few  individuals  are  ad- 
vanced to  a  full  understanding  of  their  religion; 
yet  even  these  are  led  on  with  caution,  and  if  in 
the  opinion  of  their  instructors  they  are  not 
suitable  persons  to  be  entrusted  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  Christian  Science,  advancement 
may  cease  at  any  time. 

5 


6  FOREWORD 

In  like  manner  the  authorized  lecturers  sent 
out  to  interest  the  public  are  not  allowed  to  re- 
veal Christian  Science  either  too  fully  or  too 
definitely  for  fear  of  chilling  the  people  and 
driving  them  away, — a  thing  they  would  do, 
probably,  in  most  cases. 

If,  therefore,  a  person  sincerely  believes  in 
Christian  Science,  I  do  not  impeach  his  motive 
for  withholding  the  full  interpretation.  On  the 
other  hand,  since  I  do  not  believe  in  it,  no  one 
should  impeach  my  motive  for  making  it  plain 
to  the  public.  If  this  faith  is  true,  its  adherents 
are  justified  in  giving  it  to  the  people  only  so 
far  as  the  people  can  bear  it;  but  if  false,  then 
the  Christian  Scientists  are  unwittingly  com- 
mitting a  great  wrong  against  society  by  their 
method  of  partial  concealment.  For,  in  my 
opinion.  Christian  Science  should  be  both  gen- 
erally and  fully  understood. 

With  these  facts  in  mind,  the  excuse  for  this 
little  book  is  apparent.  I  should  have  no  desire 
to  write  on  this  subject  if  the  Christian  Scien- 
tists saw  their  way  clear  to  give  the  thought  of 
their  inner  circle  to  the  public. 

All  conversations  reported  in  this  book  actually 
took  place;  and  the  exact  phraseology  is  largely 
preserved. 

R.  L.  S. 

Bridgeport,  Conn. 


CONTENTS 

Foreword 

I.    Finding  the  Key 
II.   Unlocking  the  Door 

III.  The  Trick  of  Two  Languages 

IV.  The  Bible — Lies  and  Cipher  Mes 

SAGES  

V.    Christian  Science  Experience 
VI.    Healing  Without  Medicine  . 


5 

9 

26 

48 

59 
68 
S2 


FINDING  THE  KEY 

I  BECAME  interested  in  Christian  Science 
thirty  years  ago  through  a  friend  who  had 
taken  Mrs.  Eddy's  course  of  lectures.  Not 
until  twenty  years  later,  however,  could  I  under- 
stand what  the  author  of  "  Science  and  Health  '* 
was  trying  to  teach. 

It  availed  me  nothing  to  read  the  founder's 
text-book,  because  it  denied  materiality  with  the 
greatest  emphasis,  only  to  speak  of  it  in  the  next 
sentence  as  the  most  substantial  reality.  How  to 
read  this  manual  so  that  it  would  not  uniformly 
contradict  itself,  no  one  offered  to  explain;  al- 
though an  explanation  would  have  been  perfectly 
simple  for  any  one  knowing  Christian  Science. 
But  such  information  is  not  usually  given  to 
"  beginners  "  or  "  outsiders." 

Ten  years  after  my  first  introduction  to  this 
subject  I  tried  to  review  "  Science  and  Health  " 
for  a  minister's  association,  but  gave  up  in 
despair  because  I  no  sooner  wrote  down  a  state- 
ment than  I   found  it  at  variance  with  what 

followed. 

9 


10     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

After  confusion  had  run  almost  into  despera- 
tion I  went  to  a  Christian  Scientist,  who  be- 
lieved everything  in  the  book  and  thought  it  clear 
and  beautiful  as  a  sunbeam,  and  asked  her  why 
Mrs.  Eddy  said  she  healed  ''  genuine,  bona-fide, 
organic  ailments  "  when  there  was  no  "  organ- 
ism.'* My  friend  had  not  noticed  the  contradic- 
tion before,  and  while  confessing  her  inability  to 
explain  it,  still  believed  that  an  adept  would  be 
able  to  unravel  its  tangled  meaning.  She  her- 
self could  easily  have  given  me  the  desired  infor- 
mation if  any  one  had  cared  to  enlighten  her. 
Just  why  she  was  not  better  taught  will  appear 
later. 

As  already  indicated,  I  gave  up  my  review  of 
"  Science  and  Health.'*  Then  I  reported  to  the 
ministers  that  I  did  not  have  the  remotest  idea 
of  what  Mrs.  Eddy  was  trying  to  teach,  because 
affirmation  and  denial  alternated  throughout  the 
book  with  all  the  rhythm  of  breathing. 

My  desire  to  understand  Christian  Science  was 
still  further  increased  by  receiving  from  time  to 
time  beautiful  invitations  to  hear  its  authorized 
lecturers.  Hence,  with  lively  anticipation  I  went 
to  hear  every  one  of  them. 

These  speakers  claimed  that  Christian  Science 
had  the  real  thing,  while  the  churches  were  only 
groping  after  it  in  the  twilight.  Yet  just  what 
it  was  they  had,  not  once  did  they  make  clear. 


FINDING  THE  KEY  11 

They  contented  themselves  with  speaking  most 
beautifully  and  vaguely  about  some  new  revela- 
tion of  which  they  were  the  sole  possessors. 
While  they  appreciated  ordinary  Christians  for 
their  good  intentions,  at  the  same  time  they  pitied 
them  because  they  did  not  have  the  true  light. 

With  the  rest  of  the  audience  I  took  it  for 
granted  that  these  experts  sent  out  from  head- 
quarters were  doing  their  best  to  make  us  under- 
stand their  doctrines,  until  I  learned  that  they 
were  sent  out  to  attract,  and  not  to  enlighten 
overmuch, — too  much  enlightenment  being  re- 
garded as  injurious  to  the  cause.  Consequently, 
when  a  question  was  sent  up  to  one  of  these 
gentlemen  asking  him  to  explain  to  the  people 
just  how  an  intelligent  Christian  Scientist  under- 
stood the  apparent  catastrophe  which  had  recently 
occurred  in  San  Francisco,  he  promptly  returned 
the  question  with  the  statement, 

"  Christian  Science  never  answers  any  ques- 
tions." 

Not  long  after  this  I  read  in  "Science  and 
Health"  that  earthquakes  were  "The  vapid 
fury  of  mortal  mind";  so  I  asked  a  Christian 
Scientist  if  he  thought  earthquakes  could  be  pre- 
vented. 

"  Certainly,"  he  said,  "  I  believe  that  if  a  few 
good  Christian  Scientists  in  San  Francisco  had 
been  demonstrating  before  the  disaster,  it  would 


12     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

never  have  happened."  If  he  lived  in  a  section 
where  earthquakes  were  common  he  "  would 
most  certainly  try  to  demonstrate,"  and  he  be- 
lieved "  with  perfect  success." 

Sitting  in  a  front  seat,  at  one  of  these  Chris- 
tian Science  lectures  delivered  by  a  judge,  was 
a  man  whose  hands  and  arms  were  twisted  into 
frightful  shape.  The  poor  fellow  had  driven 
ten  miles  through  extreme  cold  to  hear  this  lec- 
ture, and  he  was  all  interest  and  attention  while 
the  judge  said  to  his  audience: 

"  You  approve  of  loving  one  another,  but  we 
actually  love;  you  think  that  the  art  of  healing 
is  a  thing  of  the  past,  but  we  heal;  and  our  heal- 
ing quite  equals  that  of  Jesus, — it  is  done  in  the 
same  way,  and  besides,  we  have  a  perfect  under- 
standing of  the  method  whereby  the  sick  are 
healed." 

The  speaker  declared: 

"  Creeds  and  blind  belief  have  no  value ;  it  is 
simply  a  question  of  knowing  the  truth; — just 
open  your  eyes  and  see  us  do  all  that  Jesus  ever 
did." 

My  eyes  were  open  as  I  touched  elbows  with 
the  cripple,  but  nothing  happened,  for  the  judge 
was  only  lecturing.  That  I  was  a  little  irritated 
in  the  face  of  such  an  opportunity  and  such  bold 
assertions,  I  will  admit.  If  the  judge  were 
honest  in  his  strong  statements,  why  did  he  not 


FINDING  THE  KEY  13 

ask  the  poor  fellow  right  before  his  eyes  to  stand 
up  and  stretch  forth  his  twisted  arms?  Was  he 
blind,  or  was  he  untruthful,  or  was  he  simply 
ignorant  of  what  he  was  saying?  To  have 
healed  that  man  would  have  been  worth  more  to 
his  cause  than  any  number  of  assertions  or  a 
thousand  lectures.  I  felt  embarrassed  for  the 
speaker  and  the  Christian  Scientists  present. 
Did  they  not  see  the  irony  of  the  situation? 
However,  it  was  all  wasted  sympathy,  for  as  I 
learned  afterward,  none  of  them  had  noticed 
any  incongruity.     They  never  do. 

When  the  lecture  was  over,  I  turned  to  the 
afflicted  man  on  the  front  seat  and  asked  him 
how  he  liked  it.  With  a  look  of  awe  and  rev- 
erence he  replied : 

"  Oh,  wasn't  it  wonderful !  "  But  notwith- 
standing his  faith,  he  went  home  as  much  de- 
formed as  when  he  came. 

Jesus  would  either  have  healed  this  man  or 
else  he  would  not  have  mentioned  the  subject. 
When  he  did  heal  he  requested  the  candidate  to 
say  nothing  about  it  for  fear  of  blinding  the 
people  to  his  higher  mission.  But  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  the  lecturer  could  no  more  have 
healed  that  crippled  man  before  him  than  he 
could  have  carried  the  church  off  on  his  back. 

Not  long  after  this,  I  had  another  invitation 
to  hear  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Christian 


14     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

Science  lecturers.  He  was  very  pleasing  to  me 
as  a  speaker,  and  said  some  very  beautiful 
things  without  shedding  any  light  on  those  parts 
of  his  religion  which  confuse  the  people.  How- 
ever, as  he  looked  more  intelligent  than  the 
average,  I  went  to  call  on  him  at  his  room  that 
evening  in  the  hotel  and  was  cordially  received. 
Disclaiming  any  controversial  mood,  I  told  him 
that  I  very  much  wanted  to  see  Christian  Science 
through  his  mind. 

I  still  labored  under  the  impression  that  this 
religion  was  somehow  based  on  the  idealistic 
philosophies;  but  any  idealistic  philosophy  with 
which  I  am  acquainted  is  crammed  full  of 
error  from  Mrs.  Eddy's  point  of  view,  and  con- 
tains all  the  evil  which  she  denies.  Further- 
more, it  requires  years  to  become  proficient  in 
any  of  these  great  philosophies;  whereas  Chris- 
tian Science  can  be  learned  in  a  few  hours  when 
definitely  stated,  because  it  is  the  simplest  and 
briefest  system  of  thought  ever  propounded.  It 
requires  neither  learning  nor  special  ability  to 
understand  Christian  Science  since  it  is  not  a 
philosophy,  but  merely  an  elaborate  idea. 

Beginning  conversation  with  the  lecturer  at 
the  hotel,  I  said : 

"  We  will  be  absolute  idealists  from  the  start 
by  eliminating  all  matter  from  nature.  We  will 
recognize  the  fact  that  a  chemist  could  take  that 


FINDING  THE  KEY  15 

brass  bedstead  before  us  and  reduce  it  to  invisible 
energies.  Moreover,  we  will  admit  that  these 
forces  are  modes  of  the  divine  Will.  Now,  in 
your  view  of  the  case  does  the  will  of  God  go 
forth  in  any  such  complex  way  as  to  produce 
what  we  experience  as  a  bed?  You  will  remem- 
ber that  I  myself  do  not  think  the  bed  just  what 
It  appears  to  be  to  an  uneducated  mind;  but  is 
there  any  reality  there  whatsoever?" 

I  fully  expected  an  affirmative  answer,  but  he 
replied  : 

"No,  there  is  absolutely  nothing  there,  not 
even  as  energy  of  the  divine  Will." 

"  Well,"  I  remarked,  "  would  you  not  spend 
a  very  uncomfortable  night  if  what  we  call  the 
bed  were  removed  from  the  room  ?  " 

He  admitted  that  he  would;  but  upon  being 
asked^why,  he  said  that  it  was  because  he  too 
was  "  under  the  tyranny  of  mortal  mind  "  the 
same  as  I  was,  and  that,  until  he  could  demon- 
strate, or  get  rid  of,  the  false  sense  of  a  mate- 
rial bed,  or  a  bed  of  chemical  energies,  he  would 
suffer  the  same  as  any  one  else  if  it  were  taken 
from  the  room. 

That  Christian  Scientists  were  still  under  the 
power  of  mortal  mind  was  at  that  time  a  most 
illuminating  bit  of  information  to  me;  for  while 
it  is  stated  over  and  over  again  in  "  Science  and 
Health"  that  they  are,  yet  that  book  was  so 


16     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

muddling  that  I  had  never  understood  it  before. 
Here,  then,  was  a  great  lecturer  upbraiding  us 
for  taking  imaginary  medicine,  while  he  was 
sleeping  on  an  imaginary  bed.  Why  was  it  more 
difficult  to  get  rid  of  the  false  sense  of  a  bed 
than  it  was  to  get  rid  of  the  false  sense  of 
medicine  and  sickness? 

Having  found  this  new  trail,  I  enquired  why 
he  wore  an  overcoat  in  cold  weather.  It  was 
the  same  excuse  of  "tyranny."  He  answered 
my  next  question  by  saying : 

"  No,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  heat  and  cold.'* 

"  Why,"  I  asked,  "  would  it  not  do  to  recog- 
nize temperature  as  a  beautiful  manifestation  of 
divine  Mind?  Cold  is  beautiful  when  you  want 
to  preserve  your  Thanksgiving  turkey." 

I  was  still  so  dull  of  perception  that  I  did  not 
realize  that  from  a  Christian  Science  point  of 
view  a  turkey  is  as  non-existent  as  sickness; 
that  to  believe  there  was  any  human  body  to  be 
kept  warm,  or  turkey  body  to  be  kept  cold,  would 
be  a  denial  of  Christian  Science  itself,  and 
would  topple  the  whole  structure  to  the  ground. 
But  wishing  to  travel  this  road  still  further  I 
said: 

"Do  you  eat  food?" 

He  admitted  that  he  did,  but  here  again  it  was 
only  because  he  was  a  slave  to  a  false  sense.  He 
could  dispense  with  non-existent  medicine,  but 


FINDING  THE  KEY  17 

not  as  y€t  with  food  which  was  equally  non- 
existent. Likewise,  he  admitted  that  at  this 
stage  of  the  game  he  distinguished  between 
"  pure  and  decaying  "  foods,  but  that  in  reality 
both  alike  were  nothing.  That  my  obtuseness 
was  frightful  I  will  concede,  but  I  still  thought 
it  was  the  ugliness  of  decaying  food  that  made 
him  deny  the  existence  of  food  altogether.  So 
I  reminded  him  that  decomposition,  as  a  chem- 
ical process,  was  a  beautiful  manifestation  of 
divine  Mind,  the  mere  liberation  of  beautiful 
energies  that  they  might  pass  into  flowers  and 
vegetables,  and  that  as  intelligent  children  of 
God  we  only  needed  to  know  which  combination 
of  energies  was  good  for  the  stomach,  and  which 
for  the  garden. 

But  this  I  learned  was  all  wide  of  the  mark. 
There  is  no  integration  of  energies  constituting 
a  stomach,  or  a  flower,  or  a  garden ;  these  all  are 
illusions  of  mortal  mind,  and  therefore  without 
existence.  God  has  flower  thoughts,  that  is, 
beautiful  thoughts,  but  they  are  not  the  false 
flowers  which  seem  to  decay.  Decomposition  of 
flowers  or  food  is  not  even  a  thought  with  God. 

"  For,"  said  the  lecturer,  referring  to  himself, 
"  I  seem  to  weigh  thirty  pounds  more  than  I 
used  to,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  do  not  weigh 
anything;  because  there  is  nothing  to  weigh,  nor 
anything  to  weigh  it  with." 


18     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

In  like  manner  the  church  in  which  he  had  just 
spoken  did  not  exist. 

"  I  wish  to  make  it  very  plain,"  I  said,  "  I  do 
not  ask  if  there  is  a  material  church,  but  is  there 
any  force  of  the  divine  Mind  constituting  a 
church,  such  as  could  be  changed  by  another 
energy  of  the  divine  Mind  called  fire?*' 

"  Absolutely  not,"  was  his  reply. 

Then  I  asked  if  God  had  ever  heard  or  thought 
of  the  Boston  and  Maine  railroad.  But  no  such 
thought  had  ever  been  in  God's  mind;  for  no 
such  thing  as  the  Boston  and  Maine  railroad 
had  ever  existed, — not  even  as  spiritual  energy. 
The  speaker's  appearing  to  come  to  our  city  on 
a  train  was  likewise  an  illusion  of  mortal  mind, 
the  same  as  sickness.  Chemistry  and  all  the 
natural  sciences,  however  spiritually  conceived, 
were  error,  illusion,  nothingness.  To  accept  the 
fact  of  chemical  combinations,  whether  as  the 
force  of  God's  will  or  as  matter,  would  make 
room  for  all  the  trouble  which  Christian  Science 
denies.  Fire  as  divine  energy  and  a  church  as 
divine  energy  would  not  combine  without  disas- 
ter. So  the  whole  world  of  energies  as  we  know 
it  in  practical  life  must  be  denied. 

I  next  wanted  to  know  of  him  why  he  re- 
ceived material  money  if  there  was  no  mate- 
riality. 

He  claimed  that  money,  though  an  illusion, 


FINDING  THE  KEY  19 

was  as  necessary  to  Christian  Scientists  as  to 
any  one  else  until  they  could  get  rid  of  the  false 
sense  of  food,  shelter,  clothes,  etc.  He  likewise 
stated  that  all  references  to  materiality  in 
"  Science  and  Health,"  as  in  conversation,  were  > 
not  meant  to  express  truth;  but  that  such  ref4 
erences  were  an  effort  to  accommodate  them-! 
selves  to  those  who  are  afflicted  with  mortal' 
mind.  And  furthermore,  since  Christian  Scien- 
tists are  under  the  power  of  error  at  all  points 
except  sickness  and  sin,  they  too  must  speak 
much  of  the  time  in  mortal  mind  language. 
For  instance,  they  must  say  that  their  plumbing 
is  out  of  order  just  as  if  it  were,  and  ask  a 
plumber  to  mend  it  just  as  if  he  could;  but  they 
know  from  their  principle  '*  that  God  is  All," 
and  that  God  could  not  be  out  of  repair,  and  that 
a  plumber  could  not  mend  him.  Therefore  the 
whole  plumbing  business  is  an  illusion  to  which 
they  with  the  rest  of  us  must  submit  until  they 
can  demonstrate,  or  get  rid  of,  this  false  sense. 

Here  I  remarked  that  if  people  were  not 
physically  sick,  then  Christian  Scientists  could 
not  heal  them  in  any  such  sense  as  was  generally 
supposed. 

"That  is  true,"  said  he,  "strictly  speaking 
we  do  not  heal,  we  demonstrate,  or  destroy  the 
illusion  of  sickness.  The  fundamental  heresy  in 
Christian  Science  is  to  believe  that  the  mind  of 


20     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

God  or  any  other  mind  can  heal  a  sick  body; 
there  is  no  sick  body  to  heal;  there  is  only  an 
illusion  to  be  gotten  rid  of.  Those  who  believe 
in  faith-cure  and  mind-cure  have  done  us  so 
much  harm  that  we  have  found  it  necessary  not 
to  recognize  such  as  authorized  practitioners. 
For  this  we  have  sometimes  been  called  narrow, 
but  we  find  that  we  must  require  of  our  healers 
the  right  doctrine  of  God,  namely,  that  He  is 
All,  and  that  a  physical  body  or  sickness  is  noth- 
ing but  an  illusion. 

With  such  information  in  mind  it  is  amusing 
to  hear  people  say: 

"  Well,  I  am  a  Christian  Scientist  this  far,  I 
believe  the  mind  has  great  influence  over  the 
body." 

Now,  that  is  the  one  thing  that  you  cannot 
believe  and  be  a  Christian  Scientist,  because 
such  a  belief  throws  the  whole  system  over- 
board. 

Resuming  the  conversation,  I  told  the  lecturer 
that  if  his  program  involved  the  getting  rid  of 
everything  taught  by  the  physical  sciences,  and 
reported  by  the  five  senses,  it  would  seem  that 
they  had  not  made  much  progress.  Why  had 
Christian  Scientists  not  succeeded  in  demonstrat- 
ing all  along  the  line?  He  answered  that  in 
getting  rid  of  such  an  infinitely  long  h*ne  of 
error,  it  was  necessary  to  begin  somewhere;  so 


FINDING  THE  KEY  21 

they  began  with  the  two  practical  points  of 
sickness  and  sin. 

^^  "Even  at  these  two  points/'  I  remarked, 
"  your  success  is  not  peculiar  to  your  belief,  for 
there  are  many  good  and  happy  people  who  are 
not  Christian  Scientists;  and  I,  for  example, 
have  better  health  than  ninety-five  per  cent  of 
your  followers." 

We  see  little  evidence  that  Christian  Scientists 
are  trying  to  demonstrate  apart  from  sickness 
and  sin,  because  they  appear  to  take  an  epicurean 
delight  in  the  pleasant  illusions  of  life,  such  as 
wealth,  fine  clothes,  and  good  food. 
Again  turning  to  the  lecturer  I  said : 
"Then  there  is  no  sickness  because  God  is 
All,  and  He  can  not  be  sick;  and  there  is  no  sin 
because  He  can  not  be  sinful;  and  there  is  no 
railroad  wreck  because  God  can  not  be  a  railroad, 
nor  a  broken  rail;  and  there  is  no  mortal  mind 
because  God  is  All  and  He  can  not  have  mortal 
mind;— it  would  he  as  ridiculous  for  God   to 
have  such  a  terrible  spell  of  mortal  mind  as  it 
would  for  him  to  be  sick/' 

The  lecturer  blushed  scarlet  while  he  replied : 
"Well, — well, — no, — really  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  mortal  mind." 

"No  such  thing  as  mortal  mind!"  said  I. 
"  Is  all  this  painful  illusion  caused  by  something 
which  does  not  exist  ?    How  can  we  proceed  any 


22     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

farther  if  we  say  that  that  which  is  absolutely 
non-existent  fills  the  world  with  woe?" 

Rarely  have  I  seen  a  man  more  embarrassed; 
but  he  said : 

"It  is  just  like  explaining  a  mistake;"  and 
then  his  face  suddenly  changed  into  a  beautiful 
smile  while  he  continued,  *'  did  you  ever  think 
of  it?  You  can't  explain  a  mistake;  you  can 
just  say  it  is  a  mistake,  and  that  is  all  you  can 
say  about  it; — did  you  ever  try  to  demonstrate? 
Oh,  there  is  such  a  blessing  in  demonstrating ! " 

I  shared  his  embarrassment,  for  it  was  a  piti- 
ful situation.    Just  think  of  it: 

No  mortal  mind,  no  one  to  have  illusions, 
nothing  to  cause  illusions;  nothing,  nothing, 
nothing;  and  yet  an  endless  stream  of  talk  by  no 
one,  about  nothing,  which  seems  to  be  something 
— to  no  one,  because  there  is  no  one  but 
God. 

As  for  me,  I  would  rather  be  dead  than  to 
purchase  health  at  such  a  price.  Yet  I  have  all 
the  lecturer's  resources  for  keeping  well,  and 
many  more  for  getting  well  if  sickness  should 
overtake  me. 

To  call  everything  in  which  we  live  and  with 
which  we  deal  an  illusion  is  bad  enough,  but 
when  they  tell  us  that  the  person  who  has 
the  illusion  is  non-existent,  we  feel  ashamed  for 
them. 


FINDING  THE  KEY  23 

"Darkness,'*  they  say,  "is  the  absence  of 
light." 

That  we  all  very  well  know;  but  the  one  who 
recognizes  the  absence  of  light  is  something,  and 
the  light  energy  which  dazzles  the  eyes  is  some- 
thing. The  mortal  mind  of  which  Mrs.  Eddy 
speaks  is  not  an  immature  mind,  but  according 
-  to  her  teachings  it  is  a  mind  absolutely  without 
existence.  When  asked  to  explain  it  she  could 
only  say: 

"  Mortal  mind  is  not  explainable,  and  has  the 
marks  of  ignorance  on  its  forehead." 

No,  the  marks  of  ignorance  in  this  case  were 
on  her  forehead.  Of  course  the  poor  woman 
could  not  explain  such  a  palpable  absurdity. 
Physical  forces  are  not  the  illusions  of  a  mind 
which  does  not  exist;  but  to  say  that  they  are 
is  the  fancy  of  a  very  queer  mind.  And  this 
monstrous  absurdity  is  not  an  incidental  feature 
of  Christian  Science,  for  it  confronts  the  Chris- 
tian Scientists  every  time  they  open  their  non- 
existent mouths,  to  speak  an  impossible  word, 
about  a  non-existent  mortal,  who  has  an  illusion 
— which  is  nothing.  This  is  the  deep  chasm  to 
which  they  all  sooner  or  later  must  come,  and 
into  which  they  must  look.  Standing  on  the 
brink  of  this  precipice  they  shudder  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  then  try  the  formula,  "Darkness  is 
the  absence  of  light"   (trying  to  forget  that 


24     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

even  this  is  the  experience  of  some  one),  and 
then  they  hasten  away,  pever  again  to  look  into 
this  chasm  if  they  can  avoid  it. 

Christian  Science  is  a  bridge  which  connects 
with  but  one  shore.  Though  they  call  them  illu- 
sions, yet  these  non-existent,  mortal-mind  Chris- 
tian Scientists  have  common  experiences  with 
the  rest  of  us.  So  this  end  of  the  bridge  con- 
nects all  right.  But  when  they  come  to  the  other 
end  of  the  bridge  it  doesn't  connect,  because  God 
is  All,  and  there  "  is  no  one  to  have  these  illu- 
sions." Then,  for  fear  of  dropping  off  into  the 
water,  they  turn  sharply  upon  their  heels  and 
promenade  back,  saying  all  the  way  **  Illusion, 
illusion,  all  these  mortal  experiences  are  illusion, 
because  God  is  All,  and  mortal  mind  does  not 
exist." 

A  bridge  that  connects  with  but  one  shore  may 
be  all  right  to  promenade  on,  but  I  submit  that 
it  is  good  for  nothing  else. 

At  the  end  of  my  interview  with  the  lecturer 
I  could  see  it  all  as  plain  as  day,  and  realized  that 
I  had  found  the  armor  whereby  they  ward  off 
attacks,  and  at  the  same  time  I  had  discovered 
Achilles'  vulnerable  heel. 

When  I  returned  home  I  hastened  to  find  a 
"  Science  and  Health,"  and  behold,  all  the  mys- 
tery was  gone.  I  could  just  slip  back  and  forth 
between  Christian  Science  thought  and  "  mortal 


FINDING  THE  KEY  25 

mind "  thought  without  a  jostle.  Both  ideas 
might  be  in  the  same  sentence,  or  a  hundred 
times  on  the  same  page,  but  it  no  longer  gave 
me  any  inconvenience.  I  was  so  pleased  that  I 
laughed.  There  was  nothing  to  it.  This  was  no 
philosophy.  At  least  all  the  philosophy  there 
was  in  it  could  have  been  learned  I  think  in 
fifteen  minutes,  if  it  had  been  given  bluntly  and 
plainly.  Just  why  the  lecturer  did  not  make  it 
plain  to  his  audience  did  puzzle  me  for  the  mo- 
ment, though  this  soon  passed  out  of  my  mind, 
for  I  did  not  yet  realize  that  he  purposely  kept 
it  a  mystery  before  them. 

When  any  one  suggests  "  sticking  pins  into 
Christian  Scientists,"  it  is  certain  that  he  does 
not  understand  their  teachings.  The  same  is 
true  when  the  suggestion  is  made,  "  Just  imagine 
you  have  your  pay  and  you  have  it."  Christian 
Scientists  simply  smile  at  most  published  criti- 
cisms, and  say,  "Yes,  that  is  the  way  it  looks 
to  one  who  is  not  a  Scientist."  Their  private 
explanation  is,  that  the  "  stick  of  a  pin  "  is  a  dis- 
tressing illusion,  and  that  the  failure  to  receive 
the  "  error  "  called  money  is  a  calamity,  so  long 
as  they  are  under  the  "  tyranny  of  a  false  sense." 


II 

UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR 

CONTINUING  to  read  "Science  and 
Health/'  I  realized  afresh  how  impos- 
sible it  would  be  for  any  one  to  under- 
stand it  without  the  key.  To  confirm  this  opin- 
ion I  conversed  with  all  the  Christian  Scientists 
whom  I  met ;  no  longer  to  argue,  but  to  test  their 
knowledge.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  most 
of  them  knew  next  to  nothing  about  their  re- 
ligion, judging  from  their  own  confessions  and 
from  the  fact  that  they  could  answer  only  a  few 
of  the  simplest  questions.  Once  when  I  was  in 
Mrs.  Eddy's  Memorial  church  examining  her 
hymn-book,  I  found  that  she  had  not  eliminated 
"  error  "  from  the  hymns.  At  the  same  time  I 
noticed  an  old  gentleman  going  about  dusting  a 
little  and  then  praying  a  little.  He  had  already 
done  both  several  times  while  I  was  there;  so 
going  over  to  him,  and  taking  up  a  hymn-book, 
I  called  his  attention  to  the  error,  asking  him 
whether  he  passed  over  such  parts  with  mental 
reservation.    I  said: 

36 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  27 

"  You  see  this  expression  is  error ;  what  do 
you  think  when  you  sing  that?  '' 

With  a  dazed  look  he  rephed: 

"  Oh,  Christian  Science  is  a  life-long  study !  " 

Among  the  many  with  whom  I  conversed, 
some  knew  a  little  more  than  this  old  man;  and 
once  in  a  while  I  found  one  who  knew  quite  a 
little  Christian  Science.  Usually,  however,  they 
would  answer: 

"  I  never  have  heard  that  explained." 

Conversing  one  day  with  a  friend  who  was 
attending  a  Christian  Science  church,  I  ex- 
plained to  him  some  of  the  beliefs  of  this  re- 
ligion.    To  which  he  replied : 

"  Why,  Christian  Science  does  not  teach  any- 
thing like  that  at  all;  their  doctrines  are  just 
about  the  same  as  yours,  only  they  believe  that 
God  still  heals,  while  you  do  not." 

In  spite  of  my  assurance  to  the  contrary,  he 
still  persisted  in  believing  that  our  views  were 
very  similar  except  on  this  one  point  of 
healing. 

As  I  knew  Christian  Science  perfectly  well, 
it  now  occurred  to  me  that  it  would  be  very  in- 
teresting to  step  into  the  Memorial  church  and 
have  my  understanding  of  Christian  Science 
once  more  verified.  Accordingly,  I  went  to  the 
church,  but  was  disappointed  at  finding  a  group 
of   about   a    dozen   people   present,    apparently 


28     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

holding  some  sort  of  conference.  However,  I 
was  met  at  the  door  by  the  lady  in  charge  who 
asked  me  if  there  was  anything  she  could  do  for 
me.  Wishing  to  avoid  the  crowd,  I  enquired  if 
I  might  see  the  auditorium;  and  while  there  I 
stated  that  I  should  like  to  verify  my  understand- 
ing of  Christian  Science  by  asking  a  few  ques- 
tions. Being  granted  the  privilege,  I  asked  my 
questions  and  received  the  answers  anticipated. 
But  upon  asking  a  more  difficult  question  the 
lady  said: 

"  Excuse  me  a  moment,  please ; "  then  going 
into  the  other  room  she  brought  out  a  woman 
who  was  very  remarkable  in  appearance,  un- 
usually well  dressed,  and  a  bundle  of  enthusiasm. 
After  introducing  this  lady,  whose  headquarters 
were  in  three  of  the  largest  cities  in  the  world, 
she  turned  to  me,  saying : 

"  Now  you  may  proceed  with  your  questions." 

It  was  charming  to  see  how  the  new  lady 
made  answer;  though  every  one  of  the  questions 
was  answered  as  I  expected  it  would  be. 

Then  I  called  their  attention  to  the  fact  that 
so  much  of  the  beautiful  required  embodiment 
in  "  error  "  before  it  was  satisfying,  even  to 
Christian  Scientists.    I  said: 

"You  all  like  flowers,  but  you  are  not  satis- 
fied with  thought-flowers;  you  prefer  the  mate- 
rial flowers  that  perish.     You  like  best  the  art 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  29 

that  is  connected  with  material  canvas,  plaster, 
or  marble;  even  thought-music  does  not  satisfy 
until  you  have  a  material  organ  which  sets  the 
material  atmosphere  vibrating.  What  I  want  to 
know  is,  just  how  does  this  fact  lie  in  the  mind 
of  an  intelligent  Christian  Scientist  ? "  She 
blushed  but  did  not  answer.  Here  the  lady  in 
charge  said : 

"  It  is  warmer  in  the  other  room,  suppose  we 
go  in  there." 

This  was  another  way  of  saying,  "  Let  us  join 
the  little  company ;  "  and  by  this  time  I  was  most 
happy  to  comply  with  the  request. 

Having  already  given  them  my  name  and  that 
of  the  Church  of  which  I  was  the  minister,  I  was 
cordially  introduced  to  the  company.  Among 
them  was  a  fine-looking  gentleman,  about  forty 
years  of  age,  an  ex-minister  of  a  great  denomi- 
nation, who  at  that  time  was  located  in  a  large 
city  as  a  Christian  Scientist.  He  excused  him- 
self and  rose  to  go;  but  as  they  implored  him  to 
stay  and  help  answer  questions,  he  again  took 
his  seat.  Then  turning  to  me  the  lady  once 
more  said : 

"  Now  you  may  proceed  with  your  questions." 

Here  allow  me  to  say  that  this  gentleman 
handled  "  Science  and  Health  "  with  remarkable 
dexterity;  for  whenever  I  would  ask  a  question, 
his  instant  reply  was,  "  Mrs.  Eddy  says  on  such 


30     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

a  page,"  and  then  without  a  moment's  hesitation 
he  would  proceed  to  read  the  passage.  Every- 
thing was  going  beautifully,  and  my  understand- 
ing of  Christian  Science  was  being  entirely  con- 
firmed. 

Not  many  minutes  passed,  however,  until  the 
lady  from  the  large  cities  surprised  me  by  her 
hesitation.  Then  turning  to  me  with  a  puzzled 
look  she  said: 

"  Most  people  can  not  believe  these  things." 

*'  Oh,"  I  replied,  "  I  do  not  care  a  rap  what  any 
one  thinks  of  Christian  Science,  I  want  to  see  it 
through  your  eyes." 

Only  one  or  two  more  questions  were  an- 
swered when  she  looked  at  me  in  a  very  cordial 
manner,  saying  most  graciously: 

"  Now  Jhat  is  all  you  can  know  about  Chris- 
tian Science  until  you  have  demonstrated." 

It  would  be  impossible  here  to  express  my 
sense  of  disappointment,  because  knowing  Chris- 
tian Science,  and  only  wishing  to  hear  it  uttered 
once  more  by  Christian  Scientists*  lips,  I  had 
come  in  to  ask  all  the  questions  from  A  to  Z; 
and  here  they  were  shutting  me  off  at  about  E. 
There  had  been  nothing  even  a  little  bit  hard  to 
understand,  as  I  had  the  key  and  understood 
Christian  Science  as  well  as  they  did.  There- 
fore in  my  desperation  I  said : 

*'  Surely  you  yourselves  will  admit  that  one 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  31 

can  not  demonstrate  until  he  knows  the  prin- 
ciple," 

They  answered  politely: 

"  That  is  true,  but  that  is  all  you  can  know 
about  Christian  Science  now." 

That  was  as  far  as  they  were  willing  to  en- 
lighten me  if  I  could  not  believe  their  religion 
and  go  their  way.  Everything  had  come  to  a 
dead  halt,  and  then  I  learned  for  the  first  time, 
but  not  the  last,  that  they  were  not  permitted  to 
answer  too  many  questions,  or  to  explain  too 
much,  Inwardly  I  reeled  for  a  few  seconds,  and 
then  a  happy  solution  suggested  itself.  So  I 
replied  : 

"  Well,  then  let  me  he  a  Christian  Scientist 
and  expound  it  to  you,  and  you  tell  me  wherein 
I  go  astray." 

It  is  but  moderate  to  say  that  they  sat  up  and 
took  notice. 

Now  six  months  previous  to  that  time  I  should 
have  been  as  helpless  as  a  little  child,  and  could 
not  have  answered  a  word;  being  without  the 
key  I  could  not  have  unlocked  the  mysteries  of 
"  Science  and  Health."  At  that  moment,  how- 
ever, I  was  able  to  proceed  with  perfect  assur- 
ance. The  following  is  what  happened.  I  be- 
gan by  saying: 

"  Now,  as  an  intelligent  Christian  Scientist 
there  are  just  three  things  that  I  must  know: 


32     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

"  First,  the  meaning  of  Principle ; 

"  Second,  the  meaning  of  Mortal  Mind; 

"  Third,  the  meaning  and  method  of  Demon- 
stration. 

"  BY  PRINCIPLE  I  mean  that  there  is  abso- 
lutely nothing  in  the  universe  but  mind,  and  all 
mind  is  one,  and  that  one  mind  is  God.  God 
and  His  ideas  constitute  All.  He  is  Good, 
Truth,  Love,  Wisdom,  Spirit,  or  any  other  beau- 
tiful thing  of  vi^hich  you  can  think.  In  the  large 
philosophical  sense  He  is  a  Person ;  and  He  is  the 
only  person.  Though  God  has  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  beautiful  ideas,  yet  they  are  neither 
persons  nor  things.  Things,  therefore,  do  not 
exist.  God's  ideas  are  as  eternal  as  Himself,  and 
perfectly  reflect  Him.  No  other  ideas  than  God's 
exist,  and  His  ideas  always  and  only  reflect  His 
perfect  being.  God  can  not  have  ugly  ideas,  and 
therefore,  since  God  and  His  perfect  reflections 
are  the  sum-total  of  all  things,  ugly  ideas  never 
exist.  His  ideas,  though  not  persons,  can  com- 
municate w^ith  one  another  and  with  Him,  yet 
never  in  such  wise  as  to  misrepresent  His  perfect 
nature.  Principle  means  God,  Good,  All.  He 
is  not  relatively  all,  but  absolutely  All.  When 
you  have  said  God,  if  you  have  the  right  under- 
standing, you  have  said  everything.  He  is  the 
beginning  and  the  end,  there  is  nothing  else. 
We  might  go  on  piling  up  adjectives  forever,  but 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  33 

this  is  the  sum  of  the  whole  matter.  This,  then, 
is  what  I  mean  by  Principle. 

(The  smiles,  nods,  and  words  of  approval  were  most 
encouraging.) 

So  I  continued: 

"BY  MORTAL  MIND  I  mean  error,  illu- 
sion, nothingness;  I  mean  anything  and  every- 
thing that  is  not  God.  Mortal  mind  is  the  false 
belief  that  there  is  a  physical  universe,  such  as 
is  reported  by  the  so-called  five  physical  senses 
and  taught  by  the  so-called  natural  sciences. 
From  my  Principle  that  God  is  All,  I  know  that 

*  fire  and  earthquakes '  do  not  exist  except  as 

*  the  vapid  fury  of  mortal  mind.'  Since  God  is 
All  there  can  be  no  physical  lungs  or  microbes, 
no  physical  body  such  as  the  anatomist  studies, 
no  physical  food  such  as  the  farmer  grows,  no 
medicine  such  as  the  chemist  analyzes,  and  no 
such  thing  as  water  composed  of  oxygen  and 
hydrogen.  All  these  are  the  false  reports  of 
mortal  mind.  There  is  no  sickness,  no  sin,  no 
death — except  as  illusions.  There  is  no  sur- 
geon's knife,  no  physical  hand  to  guide  it,  no 
physical  body  to  be  cut.  These  all  are  very  real 
as  illusions,  but  are  nothing  in  fact.  God  is  All 
and  could  not  be  a  surgeon's  knife.  It  would 
not  reflect  his  perfect  nature,  auid  therefore 
could  not  exist.  In  reality  there  is  neither  gun- 
powder nor  explosive  of  any  kind — nothing  but 


34     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

God  and  His  lovely  ideas.  Every  suggestion  to 
the  contrary  is  the  Mie '  of  mortal  mind.  Both 
the  surgical  operation  and  the  pain  are  alike  il- 
lusions— things  that  do  not  exist,  false  reports 
of  the  so-called  physical  senses — which  senses 
do  not  exist.  There  is  no  physical  body  to  be 
clothed  with  a  physical  coat,  or  fed  with  phys- 
ical food,  or  sheltered  by  a  physical  house;  all 
these  are  false  reports,  which  seem  very  real 
until  we  can  demonstrate  their  nothingness.  Ex- 
cept as  an  illusion,  there  never  was  a  railroad 
wreck,  because  it  would  not  reflect  God,  or  Good. 
Everything  physical  must  be  regarded  as  error; 
all  those  combined  energies  of  which  the  chem- 
ist speaks,  all  the  forces  reported  by  the  physicist 
— in  short,  all  the  natural  sciences  are  built  on 
error.  There  are  neither  favorable  nor  unfavor- 
able combinations  of  energies  constituting  what 
we  call  Nature.  Nature,  as  laws  and  forces,  is  a 
false  belief.  There  is  no  poison,  no  pistol,  noth- 
ing but  God  and  His  perfect  ideas.  The  natural 
world  is  dreadfully  real  as  illusion,  but  not  in 
fact.  The  suffering  is  terribly  great  as  illusion, 
but  not  in  truth.  This,  then,  is  the  monster 
called  Mortal  Mind,  which  is  nothing  but  *  blind 
belief  '; — and  blind  belief  is  nothing. 

("Oh,  wouldn't  he  make  a  fine  Scientist!") 

"BY  DEMONSTRATION  I  mean  getting 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  35 

rid  of  the  false  sense  of  mortal  mind,  or  getting    ' 
rid  of  the  sense  of  everything  but  God.     To  . 
demonstrate  means  to  throw  off  the  bondage  of 
the  five  senses  and  to  discredit  the  lies  of  phys- 
ical science.     It  is  to  destroy  the  infinite  illusion 
of   nature   which   seems   to   surround   us,   and 
thereby  prove  the  non-existence  of  materiality 
on  the  one  hand,  and  to  prove  the  Allness  of 
God  on  the  other  hand.     When  I  demonstrate 
against  sickness  I  do  not  heal  in  the  commonly   ^ 
accepted  meaning  of  the  word;  I  simply  get  rid 
of  the  false  sense  of  sickness,  pain,  and  death.   I 
To  believe  that  there   is  any  sickness  to  heal 
would  be  to  admit  its  reality  and  to  deny  that 
God  is  All.     Neither  do  I  pray  God  to  forgive 
my  sin,  because  that  would  be  to  acknowledge 
sin  as  a  fact,  and  to  discredit  God.    To  demon- 
strate against  the  illusion  of  sin  I  simply  deny 
its  reality  and  forget  it ;  or  I  refuse  to  look  any 
more  on  error.     In  so  far  as  I  lose  the  sense  of 
matter  and  its  pain  I  have  demonstrated  their 
nothingness,  and  proved  the  truth  of  Christian  ' 
Science.     Demonstration  is  compelling  all  mate- 
riality to  pale  into  nothingness  before  God  who 
remains  the  one  eternal  reality.     This,  then,  is 
the  meaning  of  demonstration :  to  prove  that  God  \ 
is  the  only  reality  by  losing  the  sense  of  every-   I 
thing  which  is  not  God. 

"  The  Method  Whereby  I  Demonstrate,  is  sim- 


36     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

ply  to  affirm  that  God  is  All,  and  that  sickness 
is  nothing.  By  constantly  keeping  the  thought 
in  mind  that  God  is  All,  the  false  sense  should 
go;  and  when  it  is  gone  I  have  demonstrated. 
The  constant  repetition  of  the  Truth,  like  ham- 
mer blows,  shatters  the  crystal  of  *  error,'  and 
pain  is  felt  no  more.  If  the  false  sense  returns 
I  must  still  deny  its  reality,  and  affirm  my  Prin- 
ciple until  the  pain  ceases  forever.  There  is  no 
need  of  analyzing  illusions  as  there  is  no  differ- 
ence between  them,  except  in  the  intensity  of  the 
false  belief.  Therefore,  it  is  not  worth  while  to 
diagnose  any  sickness,  since  all  sickness  is  error. 
Cancer  is  only  a  more  stubborn  form  of  material 
belief.  The  method  of  demonstration,  then,  is 
a  complete  turning  away  from  false  belief  in 
matter  and  sickness,  and  a  definite  turning  to 
God,  who  is  Love,  Truth,  and  Life.  It  is  neither 
petition  nor  blind  belief;  it  is  right  thinking.  It 
is  the  denial  of  matter  with  all  its  ills,  and  the 
affirmation  of  God,  who  knows  no  sickness,  sin, 
or  death. 

(With  the  hearty  approval  of  my  hearers  I  continued.) 

"At  my  present  stage  of  development  I  can 
demonstrate  only  at  the  points  of  sickness  and 
sin.  For  though  I  have  an  infinitely  long  line  of 
error  to  get  rid  of  through  demonstration,  yet 
I  must  begin  somewhere;  and  sickness  and  sin 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  37 

seem  to  afford  a  good  place  from  which  to  start. 
In  other  respects  I  still  live  under  the  tyranny 
of  mortal  mind.  But  some  day  I  shall  be  able 
to  rid  myself  of  the  whole  universe  of  falsehood 
which  seems  to  surround  me.  However,  in  the 
meantime  I  shall  be  placed  in  many  awkward 
positions.  For  example,  we  will  suppose  that  my 
father  is  dead  in  my  home.  What  shall  I  do, 
since  at  my  present  stage  of  development  I  can 
not  demonstrate  at  the  side  of  the  casket?  Until 
I  can  demonstrate,  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to 
put  error  out  of  sight  through  a  burial;  other- 
wise I  should  greatly  suffer  in  my  mortal  mind. 
Still,  I  know  that  my  neighbors  who  are  not 
Christian  Scientists  are  making  light  remarks 
about  me  after  this  manner: 

"  '  Why  does  he  bury  the  body  if  there  is  no 
materiality?  What  a  ridiculous  thing  it  is  to 
take  an  imaginary  body  to  an  imaginary  ceme- 
tery, in  an  imaginary  hearse,  to  perform  an  im- 
aginary burial ! ' 

"  Now,  exactly  what  should  I  be  thinking 
under  such  circumstances,  as  an  intelligent  Chris- 
tian Scientist?  Why,  this  is  what  I  should  be 
thinking.  I  know  that  God  is  All,  and  that  there 
is  really  no  dead  body  there,  but  until  I  can 
demonstrate  I  should  suffer  in  my  false  mind  if 
I  did  not  put  error  out  of  sight.  When,  hew- 
ever,  I  can  demonstrate,  as  one  day  I  will  do,  I 


38     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

shall  never  see  anything  that  resembles  a  dead 
body,  a  hearse,  a  cemetery,  or  a  tombstone. 
These  gruesome  things  do  not  reflect  God,  and 
therefore  do  not  exist.  God  has  no  such  er- 
roneous and  unpleasant  thoughts." 

("Oh,  he  is  a  Christian  Scientist,  and  knows  more 
Science  than  many  of  the  Scientists  themselves!") 

Then  one  of  the  ladies  bringing  a  pamphlet, 
asked  me  to  read  a  portion  of  it  aloud  for  all 
to  hear.  In  substance  it  read,  people  originally 
thought  the  earth  was  flat,  and  that  it  was  the 
center  around  which  the  sun  revolved ;  but  finally 
Truth  came  along  in  the  person  of  Copernicus, 
and  set  aside  all  this  error,  showing  us  that  the 
earth  was  round,  and  that  it  revolved  about  the 
sun.    When  I  had  finished  reading  I  remarked: 

"  Yes,  and  that  which  Copernicus  gave  us  was 
likewise  error,  but  a  more  refined  form  of  error. 
For  if  he  had  carried  his  demonstration  clear 
to  a  finish,  the  material  solar  system  would  have 
disappeared  altogether.  Some  time,  we  shall 
complete  his  demonstration,  and  there  will  re- 
main only  beautiful,  spherical  thoughts  that  per- 
fectly reflect  God, — not  material  balls  composed 
of  terrific,  chemical  energies. 

(Approval.) 

"  We  will  again  suppose  that  a  street-car  has 
run  over  a  boy  and  crushed  his  leg,  and  that  I 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  39 

heal  him.  The  sneering  remarks  of  my  neigh- 
bors will  be : 

"  '  How  could  you  heal  him  if  there  was  noth- 
ing the  matter  with  him?  How  could  you  tell 
which  leg  was  hurt?  How  did  you  know  when 
it  was  well  ?  * 

"  Now,  just  what  should  be  going  through  my 
mind  as  an  intelligent  Christian  Scientist?  Did 
anything  happen?  If  so,  what  was  it?  Did  I 
do  anything,  and  if  so  what  did  I  do?  Why, 
this  is  what  happened:  The  accident  and  injury 
were  a  sort  of  cyclone  in  the  realm  of  error ;  error 
was  intensified  until  it  became  inky  black.  Even 
to  the  false  sense  of  a  Christian  Scientist,  this  in- 
tensified error  looked  like  a  wound.  What  did  I 
do?  I  allayed  the  storm;  I  relieved  the  density  of 
error ;  I  brought  the  leg  back  to  the  normal  state ; 
but  that  which  remained  was  still  error,  only  a 
more  refined  form  of  error.  If  I  could  have  car- 
ried the  demonstration  to  a  finish  there  would 
have  been  no  leg,  either  well  or  crushed,  like- 
wise if  I  could  completely  demonstrate,  the  phys- 
ical street  and  street-car  would  disappear;  but 
at  this  stage  of  our  development  the  more  refined 
forms  of  error,  such  as  well  legs,  good  streets 
and  street-cars,  temporarily  serve  a  good  pur- 
pose. 

(Here  the  lady  from  the  large  cities  sprang  to  her  feet, 
and  with  a  strong  gesture  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  you  are  a  St. 
Paul!") 


40     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

*'  We  are  accused  by  our  critics  of  liking  ma- 
teriality overmuch,  that  we  like  material  flowers 
more  than  thought-flowers,  that  we  like  beautiful 
stone  churches,  and  that  in  every  way  we  show 
a  fondness  for  the  beautiful  that  is  thoroughly 
embodied  in  matter.  How,  therefore,  am  I  to 
explain  this  as  an  intelligent  Christian  Scientist? 
That  is  not  so  diflicult  because  gleams  of  the 
beautiful  reach  us,  penetrating  this  mass  of  il- 
lusion, and,  therefore,  it  behooves  us  to  make 
things  just  as  beautiful  as  we  can  until  we  get 
rid  of  the  false  sense  of  materiality  altogether. 

(Here  it  was  remarked,  "  He  is  a  Christian  Scientist, 
no  one  could  see  the  truth  as  he  sees  it  without  believing 
it;"  to  which  I  replied,  "I  hope  I  have  not  raised  your 
expectations  too  high.") 

"  This  beautiful  church  seems  to  be  built  of 
material  stone,  but  we  know  there  are  no  stones 
here,  it  is  only  a  dream.  The  beautiful  thought, 
temple,  will  abide  forever  as  a  reflection  of  God, 
and  it  is  best  that  we  should  embody  this  idea 
in  the  refined  illusion  called  stone,  but  one  day 
we  shall  demonstrate,  and  then  our  false  sense 
of  stone  will  disappear." 

("Yes,  that  is  the  goal,  that  is  the  goal.") 

"  If  my  hearing  is  getting  dull  my  neighbors 
will  say,  '  Now  you  are  losing  your  false  sense/ 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  41 

and  if  my  sight  is  growing  dim  they  will  assure 
me  that  I  am  still  farther  losing  my  mortal  mind ; 
and  then  some  smart  fellow  will  step  forward 
and  remark,  '  I  should  think  that  a  pistol  shot 
would  be  the  quickest  way  of  getting  rid  of 
mortal  mind.'  But  in  the  face  of  such  a  foolish 
taunt  I  would  remember  that  there  is  no  pistol, 
and  that  if  I  so  far  forgot  the  Truth  as  to  be- 
lieve I  could  destroy  error  with  error,  I  should 
only  swap  one  blind  belief  for  another.  In  the 
event  that  I  used  the  pistol,  I  should  no  longer 
seem  to  be  living  at  i8  Depot  Street,  but  should 
instantly  surround  myself  with  another  set  of 
errors.  Thus  I  might  die  a  million  times  in  the 
sense  of  swapping  errors,  but  would  be  no 
farther  advanced  than  when  I  began.  For  the 
only  way  to  rise  to  a  Christian  Scientist's  heaven 
is  through  demonstration,  and  not  through  the 
illusion  of  death  or  suicide.  One  can  not  die 
because  he  never  was  born;  physical  birth  and 
death  are  the  propagation  of  illusion.  All  of 
me  that  exists  reflects  God,  is  one  of  God's  ideas, 
and  is  as  eternal  and  perfect  as  God  Himself. 
The  rest  of  me,  the  part  that  seemed  to  be  born, 
does  not  exist.  The  illusion  of  physical  birth 
and  death  is  a  part  of  that  universal  nightmare 
called  '  human  life.'  Of  this  God  knows  abso- 
lutely nothing;  there  is  nothing.  In  our  dreams 
we  see  the  burglar  and  the  pistol  as  veritable 


42     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

realities;  but  in  the  morning  we  know  there  has 
been  no  burglar  there.  It  is  just  so  in  the  dream 
of  *  mortal  life';  only  in  this  case  neither  the 
dream  nor  the  dreamer  exists,  for  both  alike  are 

nothing. 

(Approbation.) 

"  Some  people  ask  me  why  I  receive  material 
money  for  healing  if  there  is  no  materiality. 
They  say  with  a  smile,  *  Just  imagine  you  have 
the  money  and  you  have  it.'  Now,  I  know  from 
Principle  that  money  is  nothing;  but  since  I  can 
not  secure  what  is  yet  to  me  the  first  necessary 
error  called  food,  nor  the  second  necessary  error 
called  shelter,  without  the  third  error  called 
money,  money,  therefore,  is  just  as  necessary  to 
me  until  I  can  demonstrate  as  it  is  to  any  one 

else.'^ 

(Hearty  approval.) 

Here  I  closed  my  exposition.  But  one  of  the 
ladies  rising  to  go,  came  to  me  and  placing  her 
hand  on  my  shoulder  remarked: 

"  Now  before  I  go  I  want  to  say  one  word  to 
you.  In  your  work  you  must  not  tell  beginners 
what  you  have  told  us ;  if  you  do  you  will  crush 
them.  You  must  begin  away  down,"  putting 
one  hand  almost  to  the  carpet  to  illustrate. 

"  I  do  not  think  I  agree  with  you  in  this,"  I 
contended,  "  because  I  thought  I  should  go 
crazy  when  I  tried  to  read  "  Science  and  Health  " 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  43 

before  I  discovered  the  principles  which  I  have 
been  expounding  to  you  this  afternoon.     When 
Mrs.  Eddy  said  there  was  no  '  organism,'  and 
then  in  the  next  paragraph  told  how  she  on  one 
occasion  healed  thirty  people  of  '  genuine,  bona- 
fide,  organic  ailments,'  I  was  in  despair;  but  now 
I  know  she  never  meant  that  she  healed  any  one 
of  anything;  she  simply  helped  to  rid  of  a  false 
sense  thirty  people  who  had  organic  ailments, 
as  diagnosed  by  physicians  who  were  afflicted 
with  mortal  mind.    '  Science  and  Health  '  should 
be    printed    in    two    colors — Christian    Science 
thoughts,  we  will  say  in  blue,  and  mortal  mind  , 
thoughts  in  red ;  and  then  any  one  could  under-  j 
stand  it,  realizing  that  the  author  never  meant  I 
for  truth  anything  that  was  printed  in  red,  that; 
in  such  portions  she  was  simply  accommodating! 
herself  to  those  afflicted  with  mortal  mind.  Whenj 
I  found  the  principle  which  I  have  been  explain-/ 
ing  to  you,  I  could  read  *  Science  and  Health ' 
like  a  primer."     But  her  reply  was: 

"  Ah,  they  are  not  all  like  you,  they  have  not 
studied  idealistic  philosophy,  and  I  tell  you  they 
can  not  bear  it." 

Here  I  heard  a  startling  noise,  due  to  the  sud- 
den pushing  of  chairs  and  the  rushing  of  those 
present.  I  turned  from  the  lady  who  was  talk- 
ing with  me  to  see  what  the  confusion  was 
about,    and    observed    that    they    had    already 


U     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

formed  a  circle  about  the  room,  and  that  every 
one  was  standing  in  perfect  military  form  with 
the  right  arm  drawn  close  up  to  the  chest,  and 
the  forefinger  pointing  up  like  a  bayonet,  while 
every  eye  in  the  room  was  riveted  on  me.  The 
scene  was  immensely  impressive,  and  I  won- 
dered what  it  could  mean.  No  one  moved  a 
muscle,  or  took  an  eye  from  me.  Then  the  lady 
from  the  large  cities  moved  her  finger  warningly 
and  said: 

"  She  is  right,  she  is  right,  you — can't — ^tell — 
these — things — to — beginners." 

This  scene  was  enacted  so  instantaneously  that 
the  plan  could  not  have  been  extemporized  at  the 
m.oment  without  audible  instruction.  I  conclude, 
therefore,  that  this  is  the  common  method  of 
solemnly  warning  members  of  the  inner  circle, 
when  they  are  inclined  to  go  too  far  in  their  dis- 
closures. 

Here  we  will  pass  by  some  other  very  interest- 
ing incidents  that  occurred. 

Turning  to  a  copy  of  "  Science  and  Health  " 
which  lay  on  the  table  before  me,  I  failed  to  find 
the  passage  for  which  I  looked.  On  discover- 
ing that  I  had  been  using  an  old  edition,  those 
present  very  much  wanted  me  to  have  the  latest, 
and  offered  to  loan  me  a  copy;  but  I  told  them 
that  it  would  not  be  convenient  for  me  to  re- 
turn it  at  the  end  of  two  weeks.     Upon  this 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  45 

remark  the  leading  lady  went  to  the  bookcase 
and  brought  back  a  new  copy  of  "  Science  and 
Health,"  saying: 

"  Just  let  me  present  you  with  this." 

But  I  felt  that  I  had  no  right  to  take  it  as 
I  did  not  believe  in  Christian  Science.  So  I 
replied : 

"  No,  I  do  not  want  you  to  give  it  to  me,  there 
is  no  reason  why  you  should;  I  prefer  to  buy 
it  of  you." 

However,  she  insisted,  saying: 

"  Christian  Science  has  done  everything  for 
me ;  it  has  brought  me  health,  and  happiness,  and 
money,  and  no  good  thing  has  it  withheld.  I 
have  never  met  such  an  enquiring  mind  before 
in  my  life;  so  you  must  let  me  give  it  to  you." 

Here  the  company  started  to  go,  and  the  two 
ladies  after  a  little  private  consultation  said: 

"  Now,  this  is  something  we  are  not  supposed 
to  do,  but  would  you  care  to  see  Mrs.  Eddy's 
memorial  room  ?  " 

I  assured  them  that  I  would ;  and  so  we  visited 
the  memorial  room.  The  ladies  were  perfectly 
charming;  and  as  we  admired  some  of  the  ex- 
quisite things  in  the  room,  the  leading  lady  re- 
marked : 

"You  know  at  our  present  stage  of  develop- 
ment we  must  make  things  just  as  beautiful  as 


46     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

They  were  so  sure  that  I  was  a  Christian 
Scientist  that  I  began  to  wonder  how  I  might 
gracefully  remind  them  again  that  I  was  not.  So 
I  remarked  that  I  had  a  very  beautiful  stone 
church  of  the  English  Gothic.  But  the  sugges- 
tion failed  to  carry,  and  the  lady  turned  to  me, 
saying  in  the  most  winsome  manner: 

"  Yes,  and  probably  you  can  bring  your  whole 
Church  over  with  you." 

I  have  no  criticism  on  any  of  those  present  at 
the  meeting  here  described.  They  were  cour- 
teous, and  I  believe  sincere.  This  occurred  some 
ten  years  ago.  But  since  that  time  I  have  lis- 
tened to  several  Christian  Science  lecturers  with 
the  exasperated  feelings  of  one  who  understood 
fully  the  unfairness  of  their  methods  and  yet 
was  powerless  to  set  matters  right.  They  were 
addressing  many  members  of  other  Churches 
who  had  been  invited  by  beautifully  printed 
cards,  while  the  adroit  lectures  were  calculated 
to  draw  these  members  from  their  own  Churches 
without  enlightening  them  on  the  real  merits  of 
Christian  Science.  These  addresses,  though  per- 
fectly true  to  "  Science  and  Health,"  were  so 
subtly  woven  and  carefully  evasive,  that  they 
could  but  leave  wrong  impressions  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people  concerning  Christian  Science. 
Either  they  should  not  invite  members  of  other 
Churches  or  else  they  should  lift  the  veil.    They 


UNLOCKING  THE  DOOR  47 

should  not  leave  the  impression  of  some  deep, 
sweet  mystery,  since  there  is  no  mystery  in 
Christian  Science  as  understood  by  their  leaders. 
Whether  it  is  true  or  not,  it  is  so  simple  that  a 
wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  could  understand 
it  if  it  were  explained.  If  they  were  frank  and 
above-board  about  their  views,  I  should  have  the 
most  kindly  feelings  toward  any  one  who  ac- 
cepted them;  though  I  think  I  know  with  mathe- 
matical certainty  that  their  system  taken  as  a 
whole  is  both  false  and  dangerous. 

Dean  Charles  R.  Brown  took  Mrs.  Eddy's 
course  of  lectures  twenty-five  or  thirty  years 
ago.  But  now,  I  am  told  on  what  seems  to  be 
good  authority,  that  even  a  Christian  Scientist  is 
not  allowed  to  take  the  course  of  instruction  in 
Boston,  unless  he  has  been  a  trusted  practitioner 
for  three  years;  and  then  he  may  receive  the 
instruction  only  behind  locked  doors.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  institution  is  at  last  under 
strict  business  management. 


Ill 

THE  TRICK  OF  TWO  LANGUAGES 

A  DAM  was  the  father  of  Abel.  Translated 
r\  into  Christian  Science  language,  this 
would  read,  "  An  illusion  was  the  father 
of  a  sensual  belief."  Mrs.  Eddy's  language  is 
English  in  spelling  and  pronunciation,  but  in 
meaning  it  is  largely  an  unknown  tongue.  This 
is  why  the  uninstructed  reader  can  not  under- 
stand it.  In  the  sentence,  "  Adam  was  the 
father  of  Abel "  the  only  words  that  retain  their 
English  meaning  are  "  was,"  "  the,"  and  "  of." 
The  Christian  Science  meanings  for  "  Adam," 
"  father,"  and  "  Abel "  are  to  be  found  nowhere 
in  the  world  except  in  Mrs.  Eddy's  dictionary. 
This  makes  "  Science  and  Health "  largely  a 
cipher  message.  For  the  meaning  of  all  impor- 
tant words  you  must  go  to  Mrs.  Eddy,  and  not 
to  English  lexicons.  No  one  else,  so  far  as  I 
know,  has  ever  had  the  audacity  to  do  a  thing 
like  this;  and  it  is  clearly  a  case  of  falsifying  the 
meaning  of  words.  When  she  says  that  the  word 
"  fowl "  means  "  soaring  aspirations,"  it  is  not 
only  ridiculous,  but  it  is  false.     Almost  every 

48 


TRICK  OF  TWO  LANGUAGES         49 

sentence  in  "  Science  and  Health  "  contains  some 
words  used  with  their  right  meanings,  and 
others  used  with  their  falsified  meanings.  If, 
therefore,  the  reader  does  not  reaHze  this,  he  is 
lost.  To  read  her  book  as  she  intends  you 
should,  the  mind  must  fly  back  and  forth  be- 
tween these  two  languages  with  the  swiftness  of 
a  weaver's  shuttle. 

This  strange  procedure  of  changing  the  truth- 
ful   meanings    of    words    was    made    necessary 
through  Mrs.  Eddy's  desire  to  make  the  Bible 
appear  to  harmonize  with  "  Science  and  Health.'* 
They  were  clearly  so  contradictory  that  nothing 
short  of  this  drastic  measure  could  pull  them 
into  harmony.     If  she  felt  inspired  to  write  a 
new  Bible,  she  had  a  right  to  do  so;  but  she  had 
no  right  to  falsify  the  meaning  of  the  words 
in  which  our  Bible  was  written.     How  angry 
1  should  be  if  the  publishers  of  this  book  put 
a  glossary  in  the  back  assigning  all  kinds  of 
false  and  ridiculous  meanings  to  my  words.    Yet 
this  is  the  very  way  Mrs.  Eddy  has  dealt  with 
the  Bible,  and  if  God  is  not  angry,  then  He  has 
no  interest  in  the  Scriptures.     Under  the  guise 
of  interpreting  the  Scriptures  she  has  substituted 
a  new  Bible  by  falsifying  the  words. 

This  unwarranted  use  of  language  still  fur- 
ther serves  Christian  Science  by  keeping  it  a 
mystery  to  those  who  would  be  its  enemies  if 


50     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

they  understood  it.  It  also  makes  Christian 
Science  appear  beautifully  deep  and  almost  mi- 
raculous to  the  eighty  per  cent  of  its  members 
who  are  not  instructed. 

Here,  then,  is  a  sample  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  dic- 
tionary which  she  calls  a  "  Glossary  " : 

"  Adam — Error ;  a  falsity ;  sickness,  death,  '  dust  to  dust,' 
red  sandstone;  nothingness;  a  product  of  nothing, 
as  the  mimicry  of  something." 

"Angels — God's  thoughts  passing  to  man;  spiritual  intui- 
tions." 

"  Children — God's  spiritual  thoughts.  The  children  that 
seem  to  be  born  of  physical  parents  are  defined  as, 
*  Sensual  and  mortal  beliefs ;  Counterfeits  of  crea- 
tion.' " 

"Death — An  illusion,  the  lie  of  life  in  matter;  the  unreal 
and  untrue." 

"  Dust— Nothingness." 

"Ears — Not  organs  of  the  so-called  corporeal  senses,  but 
spiritual  understanding." 

"  Evening— Mistiness  of  mortal  thought." 

"  Eyes — Spiritual  discernment." 

"Firmament — Spiritual  understanding;  the  scientific  line 
of  demarcation  between  Truth  and  error,  between 
Spirit  and  so-called  matter." 

"  Good— God." 

"  Mother-God." 

"  Purse — Error." 

"  Rock — Spiritual  foundation." 

"  Sheep — Innocence ;  inoffensiveness ;  those  who  follow 
their  leader." 

"  Sun — The  symbol  of  Soul  governing  man." 

It  is  perfectly  plain  that,  while  the  foregoing 


TRICK  OF  TWO  LANGUAGES         51 

is  English  in  form,  it  is  altogether  a  new  lan- 
guage in  meaning. 

We  will  now  read  a  little  from  "  Science  and 
Health  "  to  show  what  it  is  like.  These  readings 
are  from  the  edition  bearing  the  date  1906.  In 
each  case  the  brackets  immediately  follow  the 
word  defined. 

Page  5,  line  2^.  "If  prayer  nourishes  the 
belief  that  sin  [false  sense]  is  cancelled,  and 
that  man  [a  counterfeit  of  creation]  is  made 
better  by  merely  praying  [using  imaginary 
sounds],  it  is  an  evil  [more  illusion].  He  [the 
imaginary-self]  grows  worse  [has  intensified  il- 
lusions] who  continues  in  sin  [illusion]  be- 
cause he  thinks  himself  [non-existent-self]  for- 
given." 

"  An  apostle  [a  beautiful-thought-of-God] 
says  [states  through  imaginary  sounds]  that  the 
Son  of  God  [God's  most  beautiful  idea]  came 
to  destroy  the  works  [apparent-deeds]  of  the 
devil  [the  only  evil,  the  lie  of  nothingness]." 

Page  7,  line  6.  "Audible  prayer  [imaginary 
sounds]  is  impressive  [thrills  imaginary  nerves]  ; 
it  gives  momentary  solemnity  and  elevation  to 
thought  [  false-thought] ;  but  does  it  produce  any 
lasting  benefit?  " 

Page  II,  line  32.  "  *  The  prayer  [right- 
thinking]  of  faith  [the  understanding  that  God 
is  All,  and  that  the  physical  body  and  its  pains 


52     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

are  nothing]  shall  save  the  sick  '  [those  having 
illusions],  says  the  Scriptures  [that  which  seems 
to  be  expressed  through  non-existent  material 
ink  and  paper].  What  is  this  prayer?  A  mere 
request  that  God  will  heal  the  sick  [the  non- 
existent-self having  illusions]  has  no  power  to 
gain  more  of  the  divine  presence  than  is  always 
at  hand.  The  beneficial  effect  of  such  prayer 
for  the  sick  [the  non-existent  man  who  has  illu- 
sions] on  the  human  mind  [the  false  sense], 
making  it  [the  false  sense]  act  more  powerfully 
on  the  body  [nothing]  through  a  blind  faith  in 
God.  This,  however,  is  one  belief  casting  out 
another." 

That  a  non-existent  mortal  mind  could  have 
illusions  is  the  most  monstrous  absurdity  ever 
believed  by  any  one.  And  yet,  this  is  what 
Christian  Scientists  do  believe,  and  blush  when 
their  attention  is  called  to  it.  Although  they 
never  swerve  from  their  steadfastness  to  this 
wild  belief,  yet  they  admit  that  it  can  not  be  ex- 
plained. Here  is  the  difficulty:  their  doctrine 
that  God  is  All  will  not  permit  of  mortal  mind; 
but  they  have  mortal  mind,  so  what  can  they  do  ? 
They  will  consistently  believe  in  this  colossal 
inconsistency. 

Page  64,  line  26.  "  Until  it  is  learned  that 
God  is  the  Father  of  all  [beautiful  thoughts,  be- 
cause physical  children  do  not  exist],  let  mar- 


TRICK  OF  TWO  LANGUAGES         53 

riage  [the  union  of  hearts,  and  the  illusion  of 
physical  union]  continue,  and  let  mortals  [false 
beliefs]  permit  no  such  disregard  of  law  [be- 
liefs of  mortal  mind  for  keeping  order  in  an  il- 
lusory physical  society]  as  may  lead  to  a  worse 
[more  illusory]  state  of  society  [imaginary  phys- 
ical society]  than  now  exists." 

Page  64,  line  18.  "Furthermore,  the  time 
cometh  of  which  Jesus  [God's  most  beautiful 
thought]  spake  [expressed  himself  in  imaginary 
sounds],  when  he  declared  that  in  the  resurrec- 
tion [when  God's  thoughts  rise  above  the  false 
sense  of  materiality  which  they  never  had] 
there  shall  be  no  more  marrying  nor  giving  in 
marriage  [forming  illusory  physical  unions], 
but  men  shall  be  as  the  angels  [spiritual  intui- 
tions]. Then  shall  soul  [thought  of  God]  re- 
joice in  its  own,  wherein  passion  [false  belief] 
hath  no  part.  Then  white-robed  purity  [God's 
compound  idea]  will  unite  in  one  person  [com- 
pound idea]  masculine  wisdom  and  feminine 
love  [God's  strong  and  lovely  ideas],  spiritual 
understanding,  and  perpetual  peace." 

Mrs.  Eddy  tells  us  on  page  349  that  none  of 
the  existing  languages  would  express  Christian 
Science.  Consequently  she  manufactured,  for 
the  old  familiar  words,  such  meanings  as  I  have 
put  in  brackets.  The  people  who  invented  lan- 
guage lived  in  a  world  of  illusions  and,  in  the 


54     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

stupidity  of  false  belief,  created  most  of  their 
words  as  symbols  for  things  which  did  not  exist. 
Unfortunately,  the  Bible  was  written  in  these 
misleading  symbols,  and  told  nearly  nothing  but 
lies  until  Mrs.  Eddy  invented  "  brand  new " 
definitions ;  then,  behold !  the  Bible  taught  exactly 
what  was  found  in  "  Science  and  Health." 
However,  the  English  language  would  readily 
have  expressed  Christian  Science  if  its  founder 
had  been  willing  to  appear  out  of  harmony  with 
the  Scriptures. 

Page  92,  line  21.  "Uncover  error  [nothing- 
ness] and  it  turns  the  lie  upon  you.  Until  the 
fact  concerning  error  [the  illusions  taught  by 
the  natural  sciences] — namely,  its  nothingness — 
appears,  the  moral  demand  will  not  be  met,  and 
the  ability  to  make  nothing  of  error  [the  so- 
called  forces  of  nature]  will  be  wanting.  We 
should  blush  to  call  that  real  which  is  only  a  mis- 
take [what  the  sciences  teach]." 

Page  75,  line  13.  "  He  [Jesus,  God's  most 
beautiful  thought]  restored  Lazarus  [made  his 
old  illusory  body  again  appear]  by  the  under- 
standing that  he  had  never  died,  not  by  an  ad- 
mission that  his  body  was  dead  and  lived  again. 
Had  he  believed  that  Lazarus  had  lived  or  died 
in  his  body  [nothingness],  he  would  have  stood 
on  the  same  plane  of  belief  with  those  who  buried 
the  body  [imagined  they  did],  and  he  could  not, 


TRICK  OF  TWO  LANGUAGES         55 

therefore,  have  resuscitated  it  [have  made  the 
illusory  body  again  appear]." 

Lest  this  kind  of  reading  prove  wearisome,  I 
will  give  in  continuous,  narrative  form  Mrs. 
Eddy's  idea  of  Jesus. 

God  is  the  Father  of  His  own  ideas.     God's 
Jesus    [not   man's   Jesus]    was    one    of    God's 
eternal  and  most  beautiful  thoughts.    The  "  Vir- 
gin-mother conceived  this  idea  of  God,  and  gave 
to  her  ideal  the  name  of  Jesus.   .    .    .  Woman 
perceived    this    spiritual    idea,    though    at    first 
faintly  developed  in  infant  form."    This  perfect 
idea  of  God  partook  partly  of  Mary's  illusion, 
since  the  thought  was  perceived  by  her.     Con- 
sequently, this  perfect  thought  of  God  had  to 
struggle  somewhat  with  human  illusions,  though 
He  always  knew  them  to  be  illusions.    If  he  had 
been  entirely  severed  from  human  illusions,  our 
false  minds  could  not  have  been  aware  of  him. 
Jesus,  the  perfect  thought  of  God,  was  ever  tri- 
umphant over  the  error  associated  with  him,  and 
the  error  in  which  others  were  so  deeply  sub- 
merged,  and  thus  demonstrated  the  difference 
between  a  person  who  is  an  eternal  thought  of 
God  and  the  false  person  who  appears  to  have 
been  born  of  non-existent  flesh. 

Human  beings,  better  known  as  false  beliefs, 
killed  Jesus,  as  they  falsely  thought,  but  "the 
lonely  precincts  of  the  tomb,"— a  form  of  belief 


56     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

into  which  his  enemies  could  not  enter  while 
they  thought  they  were  physically  alive, — "  gave 
Jesus  a  refuge  from  his  foes."  In  this  densest 
illusion,  the  sepulchre,  Jesus  grappled  with  error, 
until  he  demonstrated  its  nothingness  and  again 
stood  before  them  in  his  old  illusory  body.  "  His 
disciples  believed  Jesus  dead  while  he  was  hid- 
den in  the  sepulchre;  whereas  he  was  alive, 
demonstrating  within  the  narrow  tomb  the 
power  of  Spirit  to  overrule  mortal,  material 
sense." 

Those  who  first  saw  Jesus,  after  his  demon- 
stration that  the  tomb  was  an  illusion,  thought 
him  a  spirit,  though  Christian  Science  knows 
that  there  is  but  one  Spirit,  God ;  so  Jesus  made 
plain  to  them  that  it  was  the  same  illusory  body 
which  he  had  possessed  before  the  deeper  illu- 
sion of  death.  "  To  convince  Thomas  of  this, 
he  caused  him  to  examine  the  nail-prints  and  the 
spear-wounds."  And  then,  after  another  short, 
probationary  period,  he  demonstrated  the  noth- 
ingness of  this  resuscitated  body  and  rose  above 
all  material  sense.  This  resuscitated  body  faded 
into  nothingness  as  false  sense  disappeared.  "  In 
this,  his  final  demonstration,  called  the  ascen- 
sion, which  closed  the  earthly  record  of  Jesus, 
he  rose  above  the  physical  knowledge  of  his 
disciples,  and  the  material  senses  saw  him  no 
more.  .    .    .  Glory  be  to  God  and  peace  to  the 


TRICK  OF  TWO  LANGUAGES         67 

struggling  hearts!  "     (But  I  quite  prefer  the  ac- 
count of  Jesus  given  in  the  New  Testament.) 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  ''  Science  and 
Health"  repeatedly  affirms  that  God  and  His 
sons,  that  is,  God  and  His  perfect  ideas,  can  have 
no  knowledge  of  non-existent  error;  it  is  the 
mortal  mind  that  is  cognizant  of  error  and  not 
divine  Mind.  Therefore,  this  experience  of 
Jesus,  a  perfect  thought  of  God,  struggling  with 
error  to  demonstrate  its  nothingness,  is  impos- 
sible. However,  contradictions  were  the  least  of 
Mrs.  Eddy's  worries. 

Using  words  indiscriminately,  with  first  the 
true  meaning  and  then  the  false,  makes  "  Science 
and  Health"  a  game  of  "Hide-and-go-seek." 
Mrs.  Eddy  says  the  river  "  Gihon  "  means  "  The 
rights  of  women  acknowledged  morally,  civilly, 
and  socially."  What  a  consternation  it  would 
have  produced  in  Washington  recently,  if  the  pa- 
rading bands  of  women  had  put  ''  Gihon "  on 
their  banners.  It  would  be  just  as  sensible,  how- 
ever, to  say  that  "  Gihon "  means  a  wooden- 
horse,  or  a  dish  of  ice  cream.  How  did  Mrs. 
Eddy  know  that  Jacob's  son  "  Gad "  meant 
"  Science  ?  "  It  is  a  wonder  she  did  not  say  that 
"  Gad  "  was  a  pesky  fly.  And  then,  what  a  suit- 
able, brother  he  would  have  been  for  "  Dan," 
who  is  defined  as  "  Animal  magnetism." 

What  a  dreadful  doctrine  it  is  to  teach  that 


58     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

parents  are  "  non-existent  illusions "  bringing 
forth,  instead  of  children,  "  Sensual  beliefs, 
counterfeits  of  creation.'*  This  is  worse  than  the 
smallpox. 

It  makes  but  little  difference  what  a  word 
means  if  all  agree  as  to  what  it  shall  mean,  but 
to  say  that  a  little  "  child  "  is  a  "  Sensual  be- 
lief "  calls  for  censure  or  pity.  Whichever 
Mrs.  Eddy  deserves,  may  God  forgive  her. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  ''  you  must  begin  away 
down  on  the  carpet,  not  to  crush  beginners  ?  '* 
How  any  one  could  receive  such  instruction  is 
the  greater  mystery.  The  prohibition  of  preach- 
ing in  Christian  Science  Churches  was  a  prac- 
tical necessity  to  save  it  from  ridicule  and  defeat. 
Only  lectures,  carefully  censored,  are  safe.  The 
leaders  of  this  cult  claim  that  at  least  eighty  per 
cent  of  their  own  people  do  not  understand  it; 
but  no  one  ever  heard  them  tell  why.  They  wish 
Christian  Science  to  appear  mysterious.  Whereas, 
it  is  merely  hidden  under  the  false  use  of 
words.  Bring  it  from  under  cover,  and  any  one 
can  master  it  in  a  fraction  of  the  time  it  took 
him  to  learn  the  multiplication  table. 


IV 


THE  BIBLE— LIES  AND  CIPHER 
MESSAGES 

WE  have  already  seen,  to  some  extent, 
how  Mrs.  Eddy  interprets  the  Bible; 
but  we  will  now  turn  to  that  portion 
of  her  book  which  she  specifically  designates  as 
the  "  Key  to  the  Scriptures." 

She  begins  with  Genesis,  as  she  tells  us,  partly 
because  "  the  real  and  living  prelude  "  is  so  brief, 
and  "  the  preponderance  of  unreality  '*  so  great, 
that  the  book  of  Genesis  as  a  whole  "  is  the  his- 
tory of  the  untrue  image  of  God,  named  a  sinful 
mortal."  The  Bible,  as  it  stands,  does  not  re- 
veal God :  on  the  contrary  it  misrepresents  Him. 
Therefore,  she  proceeds  to  change  the  Bible,  and 
then  shows  that  it  harmonizes  with  "  Science  and 
Health." 

*'  When  the  crude  forms  of  human  thought 
take  on  higher  symbols  and  significations,  the 
scientifically  Christian  view  of  the  universe  will 
appear."  That  is  to  say,  after  Mrs.  Eddy  has 
changed  all  the  principal  words  of  the  Bible  nar- 
rative, it  then  harmonizes  with  her  views.    When 


60     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

she  has  substituted  new  words,  it  appears  that 
instead  of  creating  the  earth  and  stars  God 
merely  unfolded  His  spiritual  ideas."  The  writer 
of  Genesis  foolishly  believed  that  there  was  a 
material  substance  called  water — hence,  his  mis- 
take !  God  could  not  move  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters  because  there  are  none.  He  simply  said, 
**  to  the  darkness  upon  the  face  of  error,  God 
is  All-in-all." 

"  God  said,  Let  there  be  light."  .  Mrs.  Eddy 
says : 

"  This  light  is  not  from  the  sun,  nor  from 
volcanic  flames,  but  it  is  the  revelation  of  Truth 
and  spiritual  ideas."  Here  again  the  Biblical 
writer  was  mistaken,  for  there  is  no  such  light 
as  that  which  is  studied  and  taught  in  all  our 
schools.  There  are  no  light  waves  traveling  at 
the  rate  of  186,000  miles  per  second.  This  is 
the  "  lie  "  of  mortal  mind. 

It  is  perfectly  clear  that  Mrs.  Eddy  believes  no 
part  of  Genesis  as  it  stands;  because  she  elimi- 
nates important  words  and  substitutes  new 
ones  in  practically  every  sentence.  Notice  how 
she  changes  the  next  verse,  in  which  God 
says: 

"  Let  there  be  a  firmament."  But  Mrs.  Eddy 
says  in  substance,  "  Let  there  be  spiritual  under- 
standing."   Or : 

"  Spiritual   understanding    is    the    firmament, 


THE  BIBLE  61 

whereby  human  conception  distinguishes  between 
Truth  and  error." 

Christian  Scientists  are  always  testifying  to 
their  great  appreciation  of  the  Scriptures;  and 
it  may  be  true;  yet  it  is  not  an  appreciation  of 
the  Bible  given  us  by  the  inspired  writers,  but 
a  substitute  Bible. 

"And  God  called  the  firmament  heaven." 
But  Mrs.  Eddy  called  it,  "  Calm  and  exalted 
thoughts." 

"And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the 
second  day."  But  Mrs.  Eddy  says,  that  it  was 
not  "  material  darkness  and  dawn."  It  was  the 
"  dawn  of  ideas,  .  .  .  forming  each  successive 
stage  of  progress." 

"  God  said.  Let  the  waters  be  gathered  to- 
gether unto  one  place."    But  Mrs.  Eddy  said : 

"  Spirit  gathers  unformed  thoughts  into  their 
proper  channels." 

There  are  no  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  but 
there  is  a  proper  grouping  of  thoughts  in  God's 
mind. 

"  And  the  earth  brought  forth  grass,  and  herb 
yielding  seed  after  his  kind."  But  Mrs.  Eddy 
says : 

"God  determines  the  gender  of  His  own 
ideas.  Gender  consists  of  Mind,  not  matter. 
.  .  .  The  divine  Mind  .  .  .  names  the  fe- 
male gender  last,  in  the  ascending  order  of  crea- 


62     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

tion."  Physical  sex  among  animals  and  vege- 
tables is  an  illusion. 

"  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the 
third  day."  But  Mrs.  Eddy  says  that  v^hen  God 
had  determined  the  gender  of  His  own  ideas, 
**  The  third  stage  in  the  order  of  Christian 
Science  "  was  reached ;  but  there  was  no  phys- 
ical fruit  tree  bearing  physical  fruit. 

"  God  said,  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  firma- 
ment of  heaven."    But  Mrs.  Eddy  said : 

"  This  text  gives  the  idea  of  the  refraction  of 
thought,  as  it  ascends  higher."  There  were  no 
sun,  moon,  and  stars,  as  mortals  suppose,  to  give 
light,  but  instead,  "  Truth  and  love  enlighten  the 
understanding.  .  .  .  The  sun  is  a  metaphorical 
representation  of  Soul  outside  the  body." 

Hear,  ye  mortals!  there  is  no  physical  light, 
and  no  physical  head;  neither  is  there  any  phys- 
ical sunshade  to  keep  the  imaginary  light  from 
the  imaginary  head;  they  all  alike  are  illusions, 
the  same  as  sickness  and  death. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  bring  forth 
abundantly  the  moving  creature  that  hath  life, 
and  fowl  that  may  fly  above  the  earth  in  the  open 
firmament  of  heaven."    But  Mrs.  Eddy  said: 

"  The  fowls  .  .  .  correspond  to  aspirations 
soaring  beyond  and  above  corporeality."  Mor- 
tals convert  these  ''  soaring  aspirations  "  into  that 
which  false  sense  calls  meat,  and  then  indulge 


THE  BIBLE  63 

in  the  illusion  of  eating  them.  If  I  can  not  keep 
well  without  believing  in  that  kind  of  a  Bible,  I 
quite  prefer  to  be  sick. 

"And  God  created  great  whales,  and  every 
living  creature  that  moveth."  But  Mrs.  Eddy 
says : 

"  Spirit  is  symbolized  by  strength,  presence, 
and  power."  According  to  this  God  made  no 
whales,  but  he  has  some  "  whaling  "  big  ideas. 

"And  God  blessed  them,  saying,  Be  fruitful, 
and  multiply." 

God  blessed  the  whales  and  living  creatures; 
but  Mrs.  Eddy  says: 

"  Spirit  blesses  the  multiplication  of  its  own 
pure  and  perfect  ideas,"  but  "mortal  mind  in- 
verts the  true  likeness,  and  confers  animal  names 
and  natures  upon  its  own  misconceptions." 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the 
living  creature  after  his  kind,  cattle,  and  creep- 
ing things,  and  beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind: 
and  it  was  so."    But  Mrs.  Eddy  says : 

"  Spirit  diversifies,  classifies,  and  individualizes 
all  thoughts,  which  are  as  eternal  as  "  God  who 
conceives  them." 

The  beautiful  thoughts  of  God  which  the  in- 
spired writer  misnamed  cattle  are  as  ancient  as 
God, — veal  and  beef  do  not  exist.  God's  eternal 
ideas,  misnamed  "  cattle  and  beasts,"  are  frolic- 
some nevertheless,  because  as  the  "  Founder  of 


64.     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

Christian  Science  "  says,  "  His  infinite  ideas  run 
and  disport  themselves." 

"  The  tireless  worm,  creeping  slowly  over 
lofty  summits,"  is  not  a  physical  worm,  but 
"  patience  symbolized." 

"  The  serpent  of  God's  creating  is  neither 
subtle  nor  poisonous,  but  a  wise  idea,  charming 
in  its  adroitness." 

Nothing  less  than  one  of  these  beautiful  ser- 
pents could  have  woven  the  intricate  fabric  of 
"  Science  and  Health,"  because  it  is  ''  charming 
in  its  adroitness." 

"  And  God  said.  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image,  after  our  likeness.  So  God  created  man 
in  His  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created 
He  him;  male  and  female  created  He  them." 
But  Mrs.  Eddy  says : 

"The  world  believes  in  many  persons;  but  if 
God  is  personal,  there  is  but  one  person,  because 
there  is  but  one  God.  .  .  .  God  has  countless 
ideas  as  sons  and  daughters  "  but  they  are  not 
other  persons,  since,  ''  His  personality  can  only 
be  reflected,  not  transmitted."  Standing  before 
a  mirror,  "  If  you  lift  a  weight,  your  reflection 
does  this  also.  If  you  speak,  the  lips  of  this 
likeness  move  in  accord  with  yours."  Then  she 
likens  "divine  Science'*  to  the  mirror;  God  is 
the  person  before  this  mirror,  and  man  is  the 
impersonal  image  in  the  mirror.    However,  Mrs. 


THE  BIBLE  65 

Eddy,  one  of  these  mere  images  in  the  mirror, 
is  writing  to  us,  the  other  impersonal  images  in 
the  mirror,  asking  us  to  think  of  ourselves,  the 
mirror,  and  of  God,  who  is  before  the  mirror. 
But  now,  the  images  are  asked  to  perform  all 
the  functions  of  personality.  Our  images  in  the 
mirror  never  write  books,  nor  found  churches. 
The  truth  is  that  here  is  a  head-on  collision  be- 
tween two  trains  of  thought,  and  the  wreckage 
of  Christian  Science  is  strewn  all  about.  Or,  to 
use  another  figure,  she  has  come  to  the  end  of 
her  bridge  that  does  not  connect  with  the  shore; 
but  that  does  not  stop  her  march,  because  she 
just  turns  and  promenades  back,  speaking  fluently 
all  the  way.  I  am  persuaded  that  this  particular 
image  in  the  mirror  says  a  great  many  things 
that  the  God  before  the  mirror  never  thinks  of 
saying.  An  image  of  God  that  can  think  and 
will,  is  all  that  intelligent  people  mean  by 
another  person. 

"  Every  tree  in  which  is  the  fruit  of  a  tree 
yielding  seed;  to  you  it  shall  be  for  meat."  But 
Mrs.  Eddy  says : 

"  God  gives  the  lesser  idea  of  Himself,  to  sup- 
port the  greater."  But  that  is  hardly  true  if 
His  ideas  are  only  images  of  Himself  in  a  mir- 
ror. All  images  in  a  mirror  are  supported  by 
the  one  who  stands  before  it. 

"  But  there  went  up  a  mist  from  the  earth,  and 


66     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

watered  the  whole  face  of  the  ground."  Here 
Mrs.  Eddy  says : 

"  The  lie  claims  to  be  the  truth,  when  present- 
ing the  exact  opposite  of  truth." 

Is  that  "The  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  which 
flatly  calls  the  text  a  lie  ? 

When  Genesis  speaks  of  God  creating  the  body 
of  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  Mrs. 
Eddy  asks : 

"  Is  this  addition  to  His  creation  real  or  un- 
real? Is  it  the  truth?  or  is  it  a  He,  concerning 
man  and  God?  It  must  be  the  latter  for  God 
presently  curses  the  ground."  "  Belief  is  be- 
neath understanding.  It  involves  theories  of 
material  hearing,  sight,  touch,  taste,  and  smell, 
termed  the  five  senses.  The  appetites  and  pas- 
sions, sin,  sickness,  and  death,  follow  in  this 
train  of  error,  or  a  belief  in  intelligent  matter." 

This,  I  repeat,  is  no  "  Key."  It  is  simply  stat- 
ing flatly  and  bluntly  what  a  big  lie  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis  is.  Even  her  new  language 
can  not  save  this  Scripture.    Finally  she  says : 

*'  Mortals  must  emerge  from  this  notion  of 
material  life  as  all-in-all.  They  must  peck  their 
shells  open  with  Christian  Science,  and  look  up- 
ward." 

Can  any  one  imagine  an  image  in  a  mirror 
pecking  its  shell  open?  God,  the  only  person, 
has  no  shell  to  peck  open.     If  God  before  the 


THE  BIBLE  67 

mirror  of  "  divine  Science  "  were  pecking  His 
shell  open,  doubtless  there  would  be  a  reflection 
of  it;  otherwise  not.  But  Christians  do  not 
think  that  their  physical  bodies  are  all-in-all; 
they  look  upon  them  as  the  instruments  of  God's 
loving  will,  when  their  wills  are  dedicated  to  His. 
The  Christian  thinks  that  the  human  hand  is 
beautiful  when  it  gives  "  a  cup  of  cold  water  in 
His  name,"  and  still  more  beautiful  when  it  is 
ministering  to  the  wants  of  His  dear  children 
in  hospitals  and  orphan's  homes;  and  not  less 
beautiful  when  it  is  dressing  the  wounds  of 
Christian  Scientists,  since  they  can  not  manage 
surgical  cases.  There  are  Christian  Scientists 
who  wear  wooden  legs,  and  these  are  preferable 
to  dangling  trouser  legs,  making  their  possessors 
more  agreeable  and  useful  in  society. 

A  friend  of  mine  told  me  how  his  uncle  in 
the  South  used  to  read  a  commentary  with  the 
Scriptures  at  family  prayers,  but  after  about 
three  months,  old  "  Aunt  Dinah,"  the  colored 
slave,  made  bold  to  tell  her  master  one  morning, 
that  she  preferred  the  gospel  "  cl'ar."  After  this 
brief  study  of  the  "  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  I  am 
happy  to  be  counted  in  "  Aunt  Dinah's  "  class. 

No,  this  is  not  a  "  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  it 
is  the  worst  kind  of  travesty  on  the  Scriptures. 
It  either  changes  them  into  a  cipher  message,  or 
else  brands  them  as  a  "  lie." 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  EXPERIENCE 

THE  genuine  Christian  Scientist  lives  in  a 
beautiful,  psychic  state.  This  is  not  a 
case  of  posing,  but  a  matter  of  deep  feel- 
ing. This  experience  is  something  to  be  reck- 
oned with.  It  contains  some  of  the  truest  and 
best  facts  of  life.  While  these  facts  are  not  pe- 
culiar to  Christian  Science,  yet  they  are  strongly 
accented  by  it.  Such  an  experience  at  its  best 
is  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  world,  causing  the 
sad  and  suffering  to  look  and  wonder.  When 
a  chance  companion  enquires,  "  Wherefore 
your  happiness,"  the  possessor  of  this  experi- 
ence calmly  and  gratefully  answers,  "  Christian 
Science !  "  When  the  tempted  writhe  and  grovel, 
he  confidently  says,  "  Evil  hath  no  power."  His 
Master  is  ever  saying,  "  Peace,  be  still,"  and  the 
storm  ceases.  Beyond  doubt  thousands  of  Chris- 
tian Scientists  once  fretful  and  discouraged  have 
found  peace  and  joy. 

Their  most  serious  mistake  is  in  supposing 
that  this  experience  belongs  exclusively  to  Chris- 
tian Science,  and  that  it  proves  the  doctrines 

68 


EXPERIENCE  69 

taught  by  Mrs.  Eddy.  They  should  have  found 
this  happy  state  of  mind  sooner,  and  the 
churches  should  have  been  more  proficient  in 
helping  them  to  find  it.  But  all  this  aside,  the 
simple  fact  is,  they  have  found  an  experience 
which  they  gladly  commend  to  others,  and  upon 
this  rock  they  are  striving  to  build  their  Church. 
It  is  just  here  that  they  succeed,  in  spite  of  the 
great  error  and  danger  connected  with  Christian 
Science.  Of  this  error  and  danger,  however, 
they  are  oblivious,  because  the  majority  are  un- 
informed on  the  main  points  of  their  religion. 
Yet  they  are  by  no  means  the  only  ones  who  have 
made  the  mistake  of  identifying  a  happy  expe- 
rience with  a  false  religion.  To  prove  this,  we 
have  only  to  observe  the  people  about  us.  I  have 
known  of  individuals,  once  happy  in  their 
mother's  church,  becoming  almost  delirious  with 
a  new-found  joy  after  enlisting  under  the  ban- 
ner of  Mr.  Dowie.  A  charming  little  woman, 
a  member  of  my  church,  coming  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Russelites,  was  seized  with  such 
a  new  happiness  that  she  could  not  listen  to  any- 
thing I  had  to  say.  Likewise,  a  beautiful  and 
well-educated  parishioner  of  mine,  on  becoming 
infatuated  with  the  faith-cure  of  the  Alliance 
people,  was  made  a  ''  Magdalene  "  for  sweetness 
and  gentleness, — she  was  always  breaking  her 
alabaster  box  of  precious  ointment.  Another  one 


70     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

becoming  a  Mental  Science  healer,  carried  on  a 
nation-wide  correspondence,  and  always  had  pa- 
tients visiting  her  from  distant  parts;  she,  too, 
was  filled  with  calm  and  sweet  repose.  In  any  lo- 
cal church,  of  whatever  name  or  order,  there  are 
some  who  are  cooling  off  while  others  are  enter- 
ing into  richer  and  deeper  experiences.  Some- 
times, also,  the  sending  of  a  member  from  a  splen- 
did mother  church  to  labor  in  one  of  its  weakest 
missions  will  work  in  him  a  marvelous  trans- 
formation, simply  because  of  new  responsibilities 
and  beautiful  intimacies  with  a  little  band  of  con- 
secrated workers.  During  my  own  youth,  I  ex- 
perienced the  psychic  influence  of  an  extreme 
type  of  conversion  and  felt  a  glory  ineffable. 
I  still  know  a  deep  peace,  but  it  is  associated  with 
a  different  set  of  ideas.  Thus  changes  are  al- 
ways taking  place,  yet  multitudes  of  regular 
church  members  love  and  toil  without  weariness 
or  complaint. 

All  this  proves  that  happiness  is  not  peculiar 
to  any  one  school  of  religion  and,  it  might  be 
added,  neither  is  character.  Furthermore,  all 
happiness  both  appears  and  feels  the  same.  For 
this  reason,  some  men  are  very  religious  when 
they  are  slightly  intoxicated;  being  happy  they 
manifest  new  powers  of  eloquence,  and  bear 
abundant  testimony  to  their  religious  comfort. 
It  should  be  self-evident  to  all,  that  the  value 


EXPERIENCE  71 

of  experience,  in  the  long  run,  must  rest  upon  a 
rational  foundation.  This  would  prevent  the 
grave  mistake  of  supposing  that  a  mere,  com- 
fortable feeling,  or  the  power  to  heal,  proves  the 
tenets  of  a  faith.  Men  should  know  that  all  re- 
ligious experience  on  the  subjective  side  K. 
largely  the  same,  since  human  nature  is  the  same. 
A  hundred  different  cults  have  healed  and  made 
happy  their  devoted  followers.  If  a  woman 
loves  a  man  who  appears  to  be  worthy,  she  is 
just  as  happy  as  if  he  were  worthy,  until  the  mis- 
take is  discovered.  Her  love  and  happiness  at 
the  start  will  not  prove  his  character,  but  hers. 
Therefore  lovers  and  religion  should  be  pretty 
well  investigated  before  we  surrender  our  hearts. 
In  like  manner,  when  a  quack  doctor  appears  in 
a  community,  the  enthusiasm  may  run  so  high 
that  every  word  of  caution  falls  on  deaf  ears. 
Yet  caution  is  the  more  necessary  in  such  a  case, 
because  no  quack  ever  eliminates  all  truth  from 
his  advice.  Neither  was  any  religion  ever  so 
false  as  to  eliminate  all  truth  from  its  system. 
It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that 
there  is  much  misplaced  love  in  this  world 
of  ours.  That  does  not  mean  that  there  is  too 
much  love,  but  that  its  objects  should  be  chosen 
with  greater  care.  This  principle  fully  applies  to 
the  religion  we  espouse.  We  should  insist  on  a 
full  explanation  at  least;  for,  on  account  of  care- 


72     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

lessness  on  the  one  hand,  and  overconfidence  in 
subjective  experience  on  the  other,  innumerable 
people  have  gone  after  religions  that  could  not 
stand  the  test  of  an  intelligent  investigation  or 
of  a  prolonged  experience. 

It  requires  no  argument  to  show  that  one 
should  be  happy  in  his  religion,  whatever  it  may 
be,  and  thereby  prove  his  sincerity  and  devotion ; 
otherwise  he  simply  reveals  his  own  moral  de- 
fects. For  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  any 
one  will  lose  strength  of  character  and  fullness 
of  joy,  if  he  is  not  watchful;  and  that  the  keep- 
ing of  these  treasures  is  every  man's  chief  duty, 
and  requires  vigilance, — a  price  that  many  are 
not  willing  to  pay.  Peace  and  happiness  alone/i 
as  we  have  already  said,  do  not  prove  a  religion/ 
true.  If  they  did,  all  religions  would  be  proved 
true.  Experience  must  be  corroborated  by  sound 
reason,  before  it  is  final.  Through  carelessness 
at  this  point,  many  have  come  to  grief  in  follow- 
ing religions  that  began  by  giving  them  hope  and 
happiness.  This  was  notably  true  of  many  who 
followed  Mr.  Dowie  with  implicit  faith.  It  is 
hardly  less  true  with  a  large  number  who  staked 
their  all  on  Christian  Science,  and  lost.  For 
while  Christian  Science  has  made  many  people 
happy  and  morally  better,  at  the  same  time  it  has 
wrought  dreadful  tragedies,  both  physical  and 
moral,  to  numerous  families,  as  witnessed  by  my 


EXPERIENCE  73 

own  eyes.  Many  who  once  were  happy  in  Chris- 
tian Science  now  wish  before  God  they  had 
never  heard  of  it.  Careful  observation  will  show 
that  any  family  incurs  a  great  risk  in  accepting 
this  form  of  religion.  Furthermore,  this  cult 
contains  no  good  thing  that  is  not  more  richly 
expressed  in  the  simple,  safe,  and  sane  religion 
of  Jesus;  and  besides,  the  religion  of  Jesus  is 
free  from  the  gross  error  that  so  encumbers  the 
religion  of  Mrs.  Eddy.  Neither  is  the  error  in 
her  writings  *' nothingness,"  but  it  is  the  dan- 
gerous, palpable  error  of  an  untrained  mind. 

Even  Mrs.  Eddy's  Christian  experience  will 
not  quite  stand  the  highest  test.  In  reading 
"  Science  and  Health,"  I  have  carefully  com- 
pared her  religious  experience  with  that  of  St. 
Paul  and  other  Bible  characters,  and  find  it  want- 
ing in  the  richer  and  deeper  elements  which 
glorify  the  latter.  Her  love  lacks  a  certain 
quality  always  present  in  the  love  of  the  saints. 
Besides,  she  is  ever  stultifying  her  intellect  and 
denying  her  senses  while  using  them ;  even  as  she 
denies  her  personality  while  asserting  it.  Claim- 
ing that  we  are  impersonal  thoughts  of  God,  and 
not  other  wills,  takes  all  meaning  out  of  fellow- 
ship with  God.  On  the  other  hand,  treating  us 
as  illusions  destroys  the  force  of  her  appeal. 
While  reading  "  Science  and  Health  "  my  heart 
yearned  for  the  reality  in  the  writings  of  St. 


74     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

Paul,  who  knew  himself  a  sinner  capable  of  diso- 
bedience,   repentance,    and    reconciliation.      He 
knew  that  no  man  was  as  perfect  as  God ;  yet  he 
believed    that    every    man    should    be    pressing 
toward  the  mark  of  his  high  calling.     Paul  saw 
us  as  members  of  God's  family,  and  not  as  a 
mere  constellation  of  ideas.     Man,   "the  idea 
perfectly  reflecting  God,"  can  not  improve,  as 
Mrs.  Eddy  tells  us,  while  the  other  man  whom 
she  calls  an  illusion  does  not  exist  anyway.    The 
difference  between  St.  Paul's  Letters  and  "  Sci- 
ence   and    Health "    is    the    difference   between 
oratorio    and    "rag-time."      Of    course,    Mrs. 
Eddy's  religious  experience  was  superior  to  her 
teachings,  because  she  zvas  a  person  even  though 
she  denied  it ;  and  this  fact  compelled  her  to  act 
like  a  person,  in  spite  of  her  erroneous  views. 
She  appears  in  a  bad  light,  simply  because  she 
is  grappling  with  a  problem  too  big   for  her. 
Rarely  are  such  degrees  of  mind-hunger,  lack  of 
training,  and  restlessness,  combined  in  one  per- 
son.    Her  strong  determination  added  to  these 
characteristics  made  Mrs.  Eddy  a  phenomenon. 
Therefore,    while   carefully  avoiding  her   great 
intellectual  mistakes,  we  should  at  the  same  time 
throw  the  mantle  of  charity  over  her  ill-advised 
efforts  to  expound  the  meaning  of  the  universe. 
Many  Christian  Scientists  have  a  rich  expe- 
rience which  is  nothing  but  just  plain  Chris- 


EXPERIENCE  75 

tianity,  with  the  novelty  of  a  few  mysteries  and 
new  associations  added.  But  where  they  are 
sufficiently  advanced  to  understand  all  that  Mrs. 
Eddy  taught,  life  becomes  involved  in  an  end- 
less chain  of  absurdities.  Such  Christian  Scien- 
tists must  become  impervious  to  absurdities  or 
else  hypocritical. 

As  further  evidence  of  the  appalling  lack  of 
understanding  among  devoted  Christian  Scien- 
tists I  give  the  following  incident : 

Two  or  three  years  ago  I  called  at  the  office 
of  a  Christian  Science  State  Press  Agent.  I 
was  disappointed  at  not  finding  him  in  the  city. 
But  the  old  gentleman  in  the  office  asked  if  there 
were  not  something  that  he  could  do  for  me. 
After  a  little  conversation  with  him  I  said : 

"  Since  Christian  Science  teaches  that  nothing 
but  God  and  His  perfect  ideas  exist,  I  do  not 
understand  who  there  is  to  have  illusions.  If 
God  had  undeveloped  children  it  would  be  rea- 
sonable to  expect  illusions  more  or  less  in  the 
course  of  development."  The  old  gentleman 
replied : 

"  I  do  not  believe  I  could  answer  that  ques- 
tion, and  am  very  sorry  Mr. is  not  in  the 

city,  but  there  is  a  lawyer  on  such  a  street,  just 
around  the  corner,  who  is  a  good  friend  of  Mr. 
,  and  by  the  way,  a  good  Christian  Scien- 
tist.    Now,  he  would  be  glad  to  see  you,  and 


76     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

could  answer  any  questions  you  might  ask  him." 

I  knew  perfectly  well  that  none  of  them  could 
answer  the  question,  but  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
what  a  Christian  Science  lawyer  would  say  on 
the  subject  was  something  too  good  to  miss.  So 
I  called  on  the  lawyer,  and  after  explaining  my 
presence  repeated  the  statement  which  I  had 
made  to  the  old  gentleman. 

"  Well,"  the  lawyer  said,  "  it  is  this  way,  you 
know  how  objects  appear  inverted  in  a  camera; 
it  is  not  that  these  objects  are  really  upside 
down,  but  only  that  they  appear  to  be." 

"  Now,  that  is  a  nice  illustration,"  said  I, 
"  but  there  is  only  one  little  point  I  wish  to 
know,  and  that  is,  just  who  sees  things  upside 
down,  since  there  is  no  one  but  God  and  His 
perfect  ideas  ?  " 

The  lawyer  paid  no  attention  to  my  question, 
but  proceeded  to  give  another  illustration  of 
what  an  illusion  was.    I  again  remarked: 

"  Please  excuse  me,  for  there  is  but  one  lit- 
tle point  I  wish  to  know,  and  that  is,  just  who 
sees  it  in  this  false  way  since  there  is  nothing  in 
existence  but  God  and  His  perfect  ideas?  "  Then 
lie  replied : 

"  I  see  your  point,  but  I  don't  believe  I  could 
answer   that   off-hand.      Now,    you   write   your 

question  down,   and   when   Mr.   comes 

home  I  will  ask  him,  and  then  I  will  write  you, 


EXPERIENCE  77 

and  see  that  you  get  just  the  right  answer,  for 
I  observe  that  you  are  a  very  inteUigent  man." 

I  wrote  the  question  carefully,  left  my  address, 
thanked  him,  and  departed,  wondering  what  he 
would  write  me  when  he  learned  that  the  Agent 
could  not  answer  the  question.  I  likewise  pon- 
dered over  the  thought  of  how  a  man  who  knew 
enough  to  practice  law  could  overlook  a  matter 
so  fundamental  in  the  consideration  of  a  ques- 
tion. 

After  two  weeks  I  received  a  letter  from  the 
lawyer,  stating  that  he  had  laid  my  question  be- 
fore Mr.  ,  but  they  realized  that  since  I 

was  such  a  scholarly  and  learned  man  I  should 
be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  a  perfect 
answer;  so  they  had  decided  to  send  my  question 
up  to  headquarters,  believing  that  I  would  not  ob- 
ject to  waiting  a  little  longer  if  I  knew  that  I 
was  to  get  a  correct  answer. 

Knowing  that  they  could  not  answer  the  ques- 
tion at  headquarters,  and  realizing  that  they 
would  not  care  to  admit  the  absurdity  of  a  "  non- 
existent "  person  having  "illusions,"  I  waited 
for  the  next  letter  with  increased  anticipation. 
After  about  two  months  the  letter  came.  It  was 
courteous,  and  offered  to  render  any  further 
service  possible.  It  also  contained  the  following 
statement  from  headquarters : 

"  Where  ministers  and  scholars  are  interested 


78     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

in  Christian  Science,  it  is  quite  best  that  they 
should  think  out  such  points  for  themselves." 

Now,  in  spite  of  the  absurd  notion  that  human 
beings  do  not  exist;  that  the  things  for  which 
they  daily  strive  are  "nothing";  that  the  laws 
of  nature  which  enfold  them  are  ''illusions"; 
that  there  is  nothing  to  improve,  since  God's 
ideas,  the  only  realities,  are  perfect;  yet  Chris- 
tian Scientists  do  act  as  if  they  were  real  beings. 
They  give  the  lie  to  their  philosophy,  and  de- 
vote themselves  to  the  practical  necessities,  striv- 
ing as  do  other  common-sense  people,  to  look  on 
the  bright  and  hopeful  side  of  life;  they  strive 
to  learn,  and  develop,  and  conquer.  Though 
they  deny  the  existence  of  all  mortals,  yet  they 
are  ever  trying  to  instruct  these  "  non-existent 
beings"  with  the  fine  faith  that  they  will  suc- 
ceed. Though  their  theoretical  inconsistencies 
undo  them,  yet  their  practical  inconsistency  in 
repudiating  their  theories  in  daily  life  saves 
them  in  part. 

Though  Christian  Scientists  deny  their  per- 
sonal as  well  as  their  physical  existence,  yet  we 
know  that  they  do  exist,  and  that  their  expe- 
rience is  no  great  mystery;  but  that  it  rests  on 
well-established  psychic  laws,  the  same  as  all 
other  human  experience.  The  very  novelty  of 
their  popular  statements  excites  a  feeling  of 
wonder  in  the  common  mind,  and  liberates  its 


EXPERIENCE  79 

fancies;  and  if  the  individual  peacefully  submits 
to  the  idea  that  there  is  no  world  of  the  physical 
senses,  it  will  enable  him  to  float  off  into  a  state 
of  feeling  akin  to  drifting.  Then,  when  he  con- 
centrates his  mind  on  the  thought  that  God  is 
one,  and  God  is  all,  and  that  man  is  just  one  of 
God's  beautiful  ideas,  all  complexness  with  its 
distractions  ceases,  and  for  the  time  being  he  has 
reached  a  state  of  perfect  peace.  Psychologically 
we  all  are  capable  of  this  experience  of  abstrac- 
tion and  this  feeling  of  unity;  every  man  may 
learn  to  float  if  he  has  not  learned  to  do  so  al- 
ready. He  can  accomplish  this  feat  with  fifty 
different  sets  of  ideas.  He  can  accomplish  it 
without  being  religious  at  all,  or  he  may  reach 
this  state  of  mind  in  connection  with  any  re- 
ligion there  is,  if  his  reason  does  not  revolt 
against  the  religion.  This  experience  of  calm 
and  harmony  is  a  legitimate  side  of  life,  and 
vastly  important  when  the  ideas  associated  with 
it  are  true  to  facts.  When  one  has  found  this 
peaceful  center  in  God  and  his  own  soul,  if  at 
the  same  time  he  can  connect  this  inner  unity 
and  beauty  with  all  the  outer  relations  of  life, 
he  is  simply  sharing  the  experience  of  Jesus  and 
St.  Paul.  However,  the  psychic  state  here  de- 
scribed may  not  be  used  as  a  proof  of  the 
theories  held  by  all  who  have  reached  a  peaceful 
state  of  mind,  for  many  happy  people  hold  views 


80     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

which  are  the  worst  kind  of  travesty  on  the 
teachings  of  Jesus. 

Possibly  the  closest  analogy  to  this  psychic 
state,  apart  from  any  religious  aim,  is  that  which 
is  sometimes  experienced  in  the  simple  pleasure 
of  canoeing.  You  are  comfortably  reclining  on 
a  cushion,  without  any  effort  on  your  part  you 
are  completely  bathed  inside  and  out  with  the 
all-pervading  ozone;  you  feel  the  delightful  prick 
of  a  million  little  points  of  light  and  heat  from 
the  sun;  you  are  soothed  by  the  gentle,  gliding 
motion  of  the  canoe;  you  are  lulled  by  the  quiet 
drip  of  the  blade;  you  are  gazing  into  the  vast 
overarching  sky  of  blue;  you  are  conscious  that 
everything  is  blending  and  fusing  with  your  own 
soul;  and  then  you  become  aware  of  the  sweet 
infinitude  of  your  being,  and  all  care  is  gone. 

Christian  Science  makes  its  approach  by  com- 
ing along  with  a  few  startling  phrases  and 
astounding  promises ;  and  then  seeks  to  bring  the 
candidate  into  this  experience  of  peace  and  one- 
ness which  we  have  described.  If  the  candidate 
embarks  and  gets  this  comfortable  feeling,  not 
being  critical,  he  is  usually  convinced  that  the 
whole  system  of  Christian  Science  is  true,  though 
he  has  but  the  vaguest  notion  of  what  it  is. 

As  already  indicated,  I  am  not  finding  fault 
with  this  experience  of  peace  and  rest.  I  am 
only  regretting  that  it  should  be  associated  with 


EXPERIENCE  81 

so  many  things  both  dangerous  and  untrue. 
However,  as  the  average  Christian  Scientist 
knows  but  little  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  teachings,  in 
many  things  his  common  sense  prevails. 

It  certainly  would  be  interesting  to  know  the 
innermost  feeling  of  the  business  managers  of 
this  cult,  because  they  are  aware  of  its  enormous 
contradictions  and  inconsistencies.  Yet  we  only 
know  that  they  regard  a  full  disclosure  of  the 
system  as  unsafe  for  the  masses,  and  that  they 
limit  their  public  work  to  the  promulgation  of 
a  few  catch  phrases,  and  to  the  propagation  of 
Christian  Science  experience. 

"  How  does  Christian  Science  get  such  a  hold 
on  so  many  people?"  This  question  can  be 
answered  in  one  phrase: — Through  Christian 
Science  experience.  You  may  add  to  this,  if  you 
like,  the  good  fellowship  which  they  cultivate, 
and  the  hope  of  immunity  from  sickness. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  they  have  scholarly 
people  in  their  ranks.  They  have  some  cultivated 
people,  but  I  have  never  yet  heard  of  a  scholar 
who  was  a  Christian  Scientist.  It  is  hard  to 
conceive  how  such  a  thing  could  be. 


VI 

HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE 

THAT  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  are 
more  or  less  sick  would  recover  without 
treatment  from  any  source,  no  one 
doubts.  When  people  seek  a  physician  or  healer 
they  do  not  ordinarily  think  they  will  die  if  they 
do  not  receive  treatment.  Some,  however,  are 
so  fearful  that  they  solicit  aid  for  every  little 
thing,  and  even  anticipate  their  slightest  trou- 
bles ;  while  others  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and 
call  a  physician  only  as  a  last  resort.  But  here 
as  elsewhere  the  middle  course  is  doubtless  the 
best  way  to  proceed.  I  frequently  go  without 
medicine  when  I  have  a  cold,  and  fare  just  the 
same  as  Christian  Scientists.  They  say  they 
demonstrate,  while  I  say  nothing  about  it.  Yet 
the  obvious  fact  is  that  we  get  well  at  the  same 
time.  It  is  morally  certain  that  ninety  per  cent 
of  the  demonstrations  reported  at  the  mid-week 
meetings  of  the  Christian  Science  churches  have 
no  significance  beyond  the  fact  that  ordinary  ail- 
ments have  been  allowed  to  take  their  natural 
course;    for    thousands    of    other    people    have 

82 


HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE     83 

fared  equally  well  without  taking  medicine  or 
giving  their  trouble  more  than  a  passing  thought. 
And  that  multitudes  of  others,  both  within  and 
without  the  Christian  Science  church,  are  always 
well,  observation  will  prove.     Health  is  the  rule 
and   not   the   exception.      Nevertheless,    neither 
class  is  immune  from  the  common,  human  ail- 
ments.    Christian  Scientists  are  inconvenienced 
by  little  ailments,  and  frequently  die  of  the  more 
serious  diseases.     Like  other  people  they  always 
die  of  something  before  they  are  through  with 
sickness.      During   an   influenza    epidemic,    two 
friends  of  mine  attended  one  of  their  testimony 
meetings  in  Washington,  where  the  coughing  and 
hacking  were  so  prevalent  throughout  the  con- 
gregation that  my  friends  decided  it  was  not  a 
safe  place  to  be.     It  was  a  regular  rendezvous 
for  those  afflicted  with  colds  and  influenza ;  and 
since   Christian   Science   has   a   large   mortality 
through  consumption  and  pneumonia,  such  gath- 
erings are  not  without  danger  to  its  own  people. 
The  children  of  Christian  Scientists  usually  have 
measles,   whooping-cough,   and   other  children's 
diseases.      (My  wife  and   sons  never  had   the 
measles,  even  though  we  are  not  of  their  faith.) 
Christian  Scientists  die  of  cancer,  pneumonia, 
scarlet  fever,  consumption,  and  every  human  ail- 
ment of  which  others  die.     The  great  majority 
of  them  pass  from  this  life  before  they  can  be 


84     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

called  old,  while  many  of  them  die  prematurely 
because  they  do  not  avail  themselves  of  the  help 
at  hand.  Some  go  about  as  cripples  because  their 
bones  were  not  properly  set  when  broken.  The 
many  tragedies  that  I  have  witnessed  among 
them  would  make  a  pitiful  story. 

The  followers  of  Mrs-  Eddy  doubtless  mean 
to  be  truthful,  but  when  they  are  not  it  is  simply 
that  they  are  trying  to  make  the  desirable  come 
true;  because  their  doctrines  and  method  of  heal- 
ing compel  them  to  say  they  are  well  when  it  is 
evident  they  are  sick.  Hence,  some  insist  that 
they  are  well  until  they  are  dead.  The  First 
Reader  in  my  city  testified  that  her  eyes  were 
so  far  restored  that  she  no  longer  needed  glasses ; 
but  on  receiving  a  letter  at  the  post  office  one 
day,  and  thinking  herself  unobserved,  she  went 
through  a  most  trying  ordeal  to  decipher  its  con- 
tents. The  one  who  happened  to  see  this  thought 
that  she  had  deliberately  falsified,  whereas  she 
was  foolishly  and  heroically  trying  to  make  it 
true.  That  such  treatment  of  the  eyes  is  posi- 
tively injurious  we  very  well  know. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  dogmatize  on  how 
much  or  how  little  is  possible  in  the  way  of  heal- 
ing without  medicine,  though  I  fully  believe  that 
some  such  healing  is  achieved.  Up  to  the  present 
time,  however,  the  results  are  not  so  encourag- 
ing as  many  people  believe.    For  I  have  closely 


HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE      85 

watched  the  practical  workings  of  Christian 
Science  in  my  parishes  for  twenty-eight  years; 
and  while  many  were  treated  whom  I  knew  to 
be  genuinely  afflicted,  yet  not  one  of  this  class 
has  ever  been  healed  in  all  these  years.  And 
though  several  were  reported  as  cured,  yet  they 
all  either  died  of  their  old  trouble  or  else  lin- 
gered on  without  relief.  Now  it  would  be  un- 
reasonable to  demand  that  they  should  always 
heal,  but  when  you  have  seen  them  fail  a  hun- 
dred times  without  succeeding  once  your  faith 
inevitably  grows  weak.  I  am  afraid  I  shall 
never  witness  one  such  cure  to  reward  a  life- 
long observation.  With  so  many  in  every  city 
that  would  make  perfect  test  cases,  why  do  not 
the  Christian  Scientists  heal  a  few  of  these  to 
show  what  is  possible?  It  is  not  that  all  these 
subjects  are  unwilling,  neither  is  it  because  many 
healers  have  not  tried,  for  I  can  testify  to  an 
unbroken  line  of  failures  and  disappointments 
for  nearly  a  third  of  a  century.  I  will  admit 
that  strong  claims  have  been  made  concerning 
some  treated  under  my  observation,  but  the  fact 
is  that  they  died  of  the  very  thing  of  which 
they  were  cured.  One  was  healed  of  cancer  of 
the  stomach,  but  died.  Another  was  treated  for 
tuberculosis  for  a  long  period  of  time,  at  the  rate 
of  five  dollars  a  week,  when  his  wife  knew  there 
would  be  nothing  left  to  support  her  and  the 


86     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

baby.  Notwithstanding  the  daily  reports  of  im- 
provement, he  died.  Yet  another  was  treated 
for  deafness  and  blindness  until  it  became  neces- 
sary to  stop  treatment  in  order  to  save  enough 
of  her  estate  to  support  her  for  the  remaining 
short  period  of  her  life.  It  was  freely  reported 
that  she  was  gaining  her  sight  and  hearing,  yet 
there  was  nothing  in  it.  But  what  is  the  use  of 
multiplying  instances  when  they  have  all  been 
alike?  Can  you  imagine  Jesus  working  on  a 
blind  man  for  two  years  without  any  improve- 
ment at  the  rate  of  five  dollars  a  week?  And 
yet  the  judge  said,  "  See  us  do  all  Jesus  ever 
did." 

The  Christian  Scientist  who  believed  that 
earthquakes  could  be  prevented  had  in  some  way 
lost  a  finger.  When  asked  if  he  could  restore 
the  finger,  he  answered  that  he  was  sure  he  could. 
"Then  why  do  you  not  do  it?"  he  was  asked. 
"  Oh,"  said  he,  "  that  is  such  a  little  thing  I  never 
think  of  it."  He  was  told  that  he  should  think 
of  it,  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  restore  it  if  he 
could,  but  his  reply  was : 

"  Why,  there  are  so  many  good  things  to  do 
that  I  never  think  of  taking  time  for  that." 
Said  I  : 

"  You  take  my  word  for  it,  there  is  nothing 
you  can  do  that  will  so  much  help  your  cause 
or  humanity  as  to  put  that  finger  on.     You  do 


HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE     87 

that,  and  w€  will  sit  up  and  take  notice."  His 
finger  is  still  off. 

Some  may  wonder  how  a  finger  could  be  put 
on  if  there  is  no  physical  finger.  That  is  sim- 
ple. The  stub  of  a  finger  is  denser  error  than  a 
whole  finger.  Now,  if  the  denser  error  were  to 
disappear,  the  more  refined  error  would  take  its 
place.  When  we  are  rid  of  all  error,  there  will 
be  no  physical  fingers  at  all,  such  as  can  bleed 
and  feel  pain  and  pleasure.  As  Mrs.  Eddy 
teaches,  the  body  of  Lazarus  alive  was  more  re- 
fined error  than  the  body  of  Lazarus  dead. 
Jesus  resuscitated  the  finer  illusion  of  a  living 
body  by  destroying  the  denser  illusion  of  a  dead 
body.  The  more  refined  error  of  a  whole  finger 
temporarily  serves  a  good  purpose  until  we  can 
altogether  demonstrate  the  nothingness  of  phys- 
ical fingers.  This  is  the  whole  principle  of- 
Christian  Science  healing.  Really  it  is  not  heal- 
ing at  all,  but  the  substitution  of  refined  error 
for  dense  error  until  our  physical  bodies  entirely 
disappear, — not  through  death,  but  through  dem- 
onstration. This  is  what  Christian  Scientists 
mean  by  not  dying. 

It  is  the  belief  of  this  cult  that  further  demon- 
stration will  be  necessary  after  the  great  illusion 
of  death  has  been  passed.  Though  the  dense 
error,  or  nothingness,  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  dead  body 
has  been  put  out  of  sight,  yet  she  still  has  false 


88     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

senses  which  she  is  trying  to  rise  above  through 
the  old  method  of  demonstration.  Just  how  long 
it  would  take  to  get  rid  of  all  false  sense  of  ma- 
teriality, even  she  did  not  know. 

Relatively  few  Christian  Scientists  understand 
all  this,  and  the  information  will  be  -given,  if 
ever,  very  gradually.  As,  for  instance,  a  Baptist 
friend  of  mine  who  had  become  a  Christian 
Scientist  told  me  very  earnestly  that  I  was  mis- 
taken in  thinking  that  they  did  not  heal  real  sick 
bodies  through  prayer  and  faith  in  God.  I  re- 
ported her  statement  to  my  friend  without  a 
finger.  He  replied  in  a  confidential  voice,  and 
with  a  smile,  "  O,  no,  that  is  not  Christian 
Science,  but  faith-cure,"  and  then  in  a  still  more 
confidential  tone  he  continued,  '*  but  she  thinks  it 
is  Christian  Science."  Not  many  months  after 
this,  she  was  made  Second  Reader.  Thus  it  is 
clear  that  not  all  Second  Readers  are  reliable 
sources  of  information  on  the  subject  of  Chris- 
tian Science. 

If  Christian  Scientists  should  heal  every  sick 
person  in  the  world  we  should  still  know,  with 
absolute  certainty,  that  their  present  explanation 
of  how  they  heal  is  false.  Nothing  could  prove 
their  philosophy  to  be  true  because  it  is  against 
all  the  axioms  of  the  mind,  all  the  facts  of  the 
natural  sciences,  and  the  deepest  desires  of  the 
heart.    Sickness  itself  is  preferable  to  their  view 


HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE     89 

of  the  universe;  and  this  is  no  rash  statement 
when  their  system  of  thought  is  fully  under- 
stood. Even  if  we  did  not  know  by  what  means 
they  heal,  still  we  should  be  compelled  to  reject 
their  explanation  as  derogatory  to  all  that  is 
dearest  to  a  rational  soul.  However,  the  situa- 
tion is  nothing  like  this,  since  we  know  very  well 
by  what  means  the  members  of  this  cult  heal, 
even  if  they  themselves  do  not.  It  is  a  scientific 
certainty  that  they  unconsciously  use  the  same 
means  as  all  others  who  heal  without  medicine, 
regardless  of  the  religion  or  philosophy  with 
which  such  healing  is  connected.  As  a  rule  it 
makes  little  difference  whether  you  take  your 
medicine  in  milk  or  water.  At  least  neither  the 
milk  nor  the  water  is  the  medicine.  If  wittingly 
or  unwittingly  you  apply  the  principles  of  heal- 
ing, you  will  gQt  the  same  results,  whether  they 
are  mixed  with  Christian  Science  or  Dowieism; 
though  the  followers  of  Mr.  Dowie  will  firmly 
believe  that  his  "  ism  "  is  an  essential  part  of 
the  medicine,  and  Mrs.  Eddy's  followers  will  be 
equally  certain  that  her  "  ism  "  is  the  healing  ele- 
ment. So  think  they  all,  of  whatever  name  or 
order.  But  well-informed  people  know  that  the 
particular  form  of  belief  has  very  little,  if  any- 
thing, to  do  with  the  fact  of  healing;  and  as 
neither  Christian  Science  nor  Dowieism  has  for 
them  a  pleasant  flavor,  they  will  prefer  to  take 


90     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

their  medicine  with  some  system  of  thought 
I  more  agreeable.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the 
psychic  laws  of  healing  are  just  the  same, 
whether  employed  in  connection  with  any  one  of 
fifty  contradictory  theories,  or  in  connection  with 
the  pure  religion  of  Jesus.  Let  no  one  be  cen- 
sured for  using  the  psychic  laws  of  healing,  with 
discretion,  but  let  every  one  be  condemned  who 
employs  them  wildly,  or  connects  them  with 
absurd  and  grotesque  theories  that  would  under- 
mine all  rational  life,  and  jeopardize  the  common 
weal.  It  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  the 
recognition  of  psychic  laws  is  a  breaking  away 
from  God,  because  the  psychic  laws  are  God's 
laws,  and,  therefore,  to  use  them  intelligently  is 
an  act  of  obedience  to  the  Creator.  The  Chris- 
tian Church  is  remiss  for  not  understanding 
these  laws  more  fully  and  employing  them  more 
devoutly.  Yet  these  particular  laws  of  God 
must  never  be  used  without  due  regard  for  all 
His  other  laws;  and  herein  is  the  remissness  of 
the  Christian  Science  church.  It  would  honor 
God  more  if  it  recognized  and  obeyed  all  His 
laws.  Even  if  there  were  no  laws  of  nature,  as 
Christian  Scientists  claim,  still  it  would  be  no 
more  absurd  to  take  medicine  during  a  serious 
illness,  and  at  the  same  time  apply  the  psychic 
laws  of  healing,  than  it  is  for  them  to  be  eating 
food,  which  they  say  does  not  exist,  while  trying 


HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE     91 

to  practice  the  absurd  theory  that  there  is  no 
natural  world.  If  it  is  not  safe  to  dispense  with 
the  illusions  called  food  and  shelter,  neither  is 
it  safe  in  every  case  to  dispense  with  medicine 
and  surgery. 

I  have  practiced  healing  on  myself,  and  upon 
patients  formerly  treated  both  by  Christian  Sci- 
ence and  the  Immanuel  Church.  It  would  be 
foolish,  however,  to  suppose  that  I  have  powers 
which  these  Churches  do  not  possess.  My  suc- 
cess is  quite  in  keeping  with  theirs,  and  subject 
to  the  same  limitations.  Healing  without  medi- 
cine is  a  good  thing  in  its  place,  but  a  curse  the 
moment  it  transcends  its  proper  bounds.  Yet 
the  psychic  benefits  should  not  be  neglected  when 
you  have  resorted  to  medicine,  for  the  laws  of 
mind  and  body,  as  well  as  the  love  and  presence 
of  God,  should  be  utilized  at  all  times,  whether 
sick  or  well,  whether  it  is  a  case  for  taking 
medicine,  or  a  case  that  may  be  safely  treated 
without  medicine. 

Mrs.  Eddy  naturally  put  her  best  testimonials 
into  the  text-book,  *'  Science  and  Health  " ;  de- 
voting as  she  did  one  hundred  pages  of  valuable 
space  to  seventy-one  testimonials  from  persons 
who  had  received  help.  These  stories  made  such 
a  strange  impression  on  my  mind  that  I  was 
moved  to  tabulate  the  items  which  they  con- 
tained.    Taking  a  large  sheet  of  paper,  I  set 


92     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

down  the  principal  data  under  the  following 
heads : 

(i)  Kinds  of  ailments;-  (2)  Number  of 
cures  under  each  disease.  (3)  The  character  of 
the  people  healed  (as  bankers,  lawyers,  mer- 
chants, housewives,  etc.).  (4)  The  sentiments 
expressed  (as  love,  gratitude,  religious  fervor, 
etc.). 

Then,  taking  another  large  sheet  of  paper,  I 
tabulated  the  same  items  found  in  the  testi- 
monials of  a  book  compiled  by  a  well-known 
patent  medicine  firm.  When  the  work  was  done 
I  laid  the  two  sheets  of  paper  side  by  side  for 
comparison  in  the  four  respects  mentioned.  The 
degree  of  similarity  was  so  striking  that  it  al- 
most startled  me.  You  could  read  the  two 
tabulated  sheets  up  or  down,  crosswise  or  bias, 
and  they  were  essentially  identical.  In  each  case 
principal  diseases  were  conspicuous  by  their  ab- 
sence. Occasionally  there  was  wrought  a  won- 
der, according  to  the  report,  like  the  cure  of  a 
cancer;  but  for  the  most  part  it  was  stomach 
trouble  and  rheumatism,  or  nerves  and  heart,  or 
some  other  chronic  trouble.  In  both  books  they 
nearly  all  had  been  at  death's  door,  and  had  been 
given  up  by  their  physicians.  The  people  in  the 
two  sets  of  stories  were  similar,  judged  by  their 
occupations  and  by  the  degree  of  intelligence 
manifested  in  their  written  testimonials.     The 


HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE     93 

love  and  gratitude  toward  benefactors,  as  well 
as  their  thanks  to  God,  were  almost  identical.  I 
even  tried  the  experiment  of  substituting  "  bot- 
tles "  for  "  Science  and  Health,"  and  vice  versa, 
and  found  that  I  could  not  tell  one  from  the 
other.  (Eliminating,  of  course,  the  criticism  of 
the  churches  found  in  the  Christian  Science  testi- 
monials.) 

Here,  then,  are  the  figures  out  of  the  one  hun- 
dred pages  of  "  Science  and  Health  "  in  regard 
to  cures,  classified  approximately: 

Cured  of  tobacco  and  liquor  13,  stomach  trou- 
ble 10,  catarrh  10,  back  and  limb  trouble  9, 
eyes  9,  rheumatism  and  neuralgia  8,  heart  7, 
nerves  6,  consumption  6,  mind  trouble  4,  tu- 
mors 4,  epilepsy  2,  eczema  2,  hernia  2,  blood 
poison  of  a  year's  standing  i,  cancer  i, 
asthma  i,  anemia  i,  insomnia  i,  Bright's 
disease  i,  varicose  vein  i,  deafness  in  one 
ear  i. 

Some  of  these  letters  are  so  very  amusing  that 
one  wonders  why  they  were  published.  I  some- 
times think  that  Christian  Scientists  have  not 
only  lost  all  sense  of  humor,  but  the  capacity  to 
recognize  the  ridiculous.  For  example  here  is 
one  testimony: 

"  I  was  healed  of  numerous  diseases  pro- 
nounced incurable.  .  .  .  The  healing  was  so 
gently  done  that  I  was  well  several  days  before 


94     THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

I  fully  realized  it."    Her  husband,  I  believe,  first 
discovered  that  she  was  well. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  I  have  made  some 
examination  of  about  one  dozen  kinds  of  heal- 
ing and  find  them  all  alike.  There  is  some  hon- 
esty and  some  charlatanism  in  mo»t  healing 
cults.  They  all  do  both  good  and  harm.  A  good 
psychologist  could  go  the  rounds  and  be  an  ex- 
pert in  every  school  because  he  would  under- 
stand that  the  theory  associated  with  the  works 
had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

The  sensible  thing  for  any  one  to  do  is  to  learn^ 
a   few  of   the   simple   truths  of   scientific  psy- 
chology, relate  them  to  a  simple  and  sane  re-| 
ligion,  and  then  live  an  unselfish,  devoted,  Chris- 
tian life,   full  of  hope  and  good  cheer.     Then; 
God  your  Father,  and  wise  friends,  your  broth- 
ers, and  a  life  devoted  to  good  works,  will  be  a 
source  of  blessing  never  failing.    So  live  in  God 
and  for  God  that  you  can  always  say,  "  Thy  will 
be  done,"  and  corroding  care  will  fly  away.    Call 
on  your  physician  when  you  really  need  him, 
and  do  not  forget  that  your  minister  may  have 
much  valuable  help  to  give  you  in  times  of  spe- 
cial need. 

As  for  Mrs.  Eddy,  she  probably  meant  all 
right,  but  she  did  not  know  the  modern  mind 
either  in  religion,  theology,  philosophy,  psychol- 
ogy, or  in  Biblical  interpretation.     It  does  not 


HEALING  WITHOUT  MEDICINE     95 

matter,  so  far  as  her  theories  are  concerned, 
whether  she  was  a  good  woman  or  not.  If  her 
views  were  true  and  verifiable,  we  would  accept 
them  whether  she  was  a  saint  or  a  sinner. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


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